The Freelancer
by Danny vs A Month
Summary: An AI, a android, and a cyborg walk into a Forerunner facility...
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

* * *

Smoking Crater

Ethan walked over the scorched ground in silence. It was all done burning. It had been years ago. But still, it was horrible to see. After all, his family had been from Reach. And his cousin had died there. Well, not really his cousin anymore. Spartans didn't officially have families, right? Even when they did. Just like how they never die.

Ethan stopped as he found what he had been looking for. A helmet, stuck part-way buries in the ground. He knelt, pulling it free of the ground and staring at the shattered visor. It had taken a beating. The metal was dented, there were plasma burns under the dust and dirt, and the visor had clearly been on the receiving end of a blunt object. But the helmet had mostly survived thanks to the area, a very small area of barely more than a square mile, not getting glassed, for whatever reason.

"You found it," a feminine voice said as an A.I. with a light pink body appeared in front of him in his vision, only his, since he was the only one able to see her.

She had her dark red hair pulled back into a ponytail reaching the middle of her back, and there were darker red, almost maroon, markings over her body, quite intentionally, like an excessively revealing bathing suit with a strip reaching from the back of her neck down over one breast and connecting to its twin low on her pelvis before reaching between her legs. She kept her appearance as such on purpose, because other than the dark markings, she manifested her avatar nude, and she liked showing it off to him. He ignored her now, though, turning the helmet over and pulling the data chip out of the base of the back. It was damaged, but it could be salvaged.

"Let's plug that baby in and see what's what," the A.I. said.

"No," Ethan said. "We'll watch it on the ship. We've taken too long as it is. We're going to get our asses chewed out again."

"Can't wait," the A.I. smiled.

"Behave Maria," Ethan said, setting the helmet back in its hole and turning, walking away while keeping the data chip in his hand. "You know what happens when the Captain gets angry."

"I have a good laugh and you pretend to listen?" Maria smirked, walking along beside him.

"And then we run training simulations for seventeen hours straight," Ethan said.

"You _love_ the training simulations," Maria said. "You _love_ whooping Marines asses. Ever since your brief stint in the Corps, and then your drafting, you absolutely love to give back to the assholes that made your life hell."

"And you love making my life hell," Ethan said.

"Hey! I make your life _fun_," Maria corrected before disappearing as Ethan climbed into his pelican. "What would you do without me?"

"Exactly the same thing I do now," Ethan said, flying up off of the ground and then into orbit, his heavily modified pelican having no trouble breathing the atmosphere.

Once they were out, he flew back to his assigned ship, the Infinity, and flew into the hangar, finding the Captain, the First Officer, and the Spartan Commander technically in charge of him waiting to arrest him for going AWOL. He opened the cockpit and hopped out, landing in a low squat before standing, double-checking that he hadn't damaged the data chip anymore, before holding it out to the Spartan.

"Captain Del Rio," Ethan nodded. "I surrender."

The captain glared at him. "I want him off of my ship! This is the fourth time he's done this!"

"We don't have the authority," the First Officer, Lasky sighed. "What were you after anyway?"

"My cousin's data chip," Ethan said. "Spartan-B312. He took the place of Noble Six just before Reach fell. I wanted his data chip so I could see what happened."

"It's damaged," the Spartan, Palmer, stated, holding up the cracked chip. "Might as well throw it away."

"It's still usable," Ethan said. "Just a little more challenging than a normal one."

"You can work with this?" Palmer asked.

"Of course," Ethan said. "It's why I'm on this ship to begin with, right?"

Palmer didn't answer, staring at the data chip before handing it back to him. "You know the drill."

"Bed without supper and be at the simulation room before reveille tomorrow," Ethan said, walking past them. "See you there."

"Damn that bastard!" Del Rio snarled. "Damn ONI! I don't want that bastard on my ship!"

"Well, ONI says it's not your call, so we're stuck with him," Lasky said.

* * *

Ethan stopped outside the door to the common room, listening to the Marines inside.

"-bastard just got back from going AWOL, again," one was saying.

"Oh fuck, not again!" another groaned. "Why is it, every time he runs off without permission, we end up getting punished by having to fight him?"

"It's all that bitch Halsey's fault for making him," a third grumbled.

"Fuck I don't want a freak like him on board," the first said. "The Spartans are bad enough, but _ him_..."

"I agree," the third said. "I don't care what kind of experiment that bitch comes up with. I don't want some freaky-"

The door hissed open and all three went silent, staring at Ethan as he walked in, sitting down at a table in the corner, his back in the corner. He held two fingers lazily to his forehead before waving them in a mock salute at the three who all immediately left the room, leaving him alone. Ethan sighed, scratching his left arm with his right before staring at it for a moment. It was a prosthetic, the metal extending partway onto his torso from the shoulder. It was slightly different than most, however. It was designed with the general shape of a normal arm, and was about ten times as strong as his normal arm, and was more durable and harder than Spartan armor. And plasma-proof. The last had been a special feature he had had to save up for a long time to get, just in case he pissed off an Elite with an Energy sword one day, that way he could use the arm to block the blade without losing the arm.

"Are you alright?" Maria asked, appearing in miniature on the table in front of them.

"I'm fine," Ethan said, picking up the helmet he had brought with him after taking his armor off and putting the data chip in place of his own, pulling the helmet on.

"Beginning playback," Maria said, disappearing from the table as she began to operate his helmet's playback system.

A video feed appeared inside of his black visor as he watched the recording of Noble Team's downfall. Jorge, the team's heavy, and only SPARTAN-II, sacrificed himself to blow up a Covenant super-carrier, only for multiple armadas to appear. Catherin-B320, Noble Team's second-in-command, was sniped in the head by an Elite while running to a safe-house to escape a Glassing. Carter, Noble Team's leader, sacrificed himself by crashing a Pelican into a Scarab tank to destroy it so that Noble Six and Emile could complete their mission. Emile was stabbed by an Elite while operating a Railgun, though he took the Elite with him. Jun, the on surviving member of Noble Team, had escaped the planet with Dr. Halsey, which Ethan knew, since Jun had been halfway responsible for him becoming what he was. Well, maybe halfway was being generous. Twelve percent would be more accurate. Finally, Ethan stopped the fast-forward as he watched Noble Six, alone as the last human alive on an entire planet of Covenant, most of which were Grunt Heavies, which were trained and equipped well enough to be considered an at least halfway decent threat, Jackals, Skirmishers, and Elite Zealots.

Noble Six fought hard, not because he was going to survive, not because he was protecting anything, and not because he had any real reason to. He just did. He made the Covenant pay for as much of the destruction of Reach as he could. And for the deaths of his teammates. Maria kept track of his kill-count as it climbed past three hundred before a jackal finally put a needle rifle shot through his leg. And then Noble Six continued to fight. Three fifty. Three seventy five. Three eighty five. An Elite smashed his visor with a kick before dying and Six collapsed before pulling the helmet off and dropping it. Then, the camera watched from the ground as Six picked up an assault rifle and a pistol and continued to fight, killing a handful more Elites before being knocked down. One tried to kill him with an Energy Sword, so he killed it. Another tried and he knocked the sword away. However, that Elite wasn't as easily killed and finally drove the smaller wrist-mounted Energy Blade that the higher classes of Elites carried in place of knives down into Six.

Ethan sighed, pulling the helmet off and pulling the data chip back out, putting his own back in. "At least I know he made them work for it."

"He was incredible," Maria said. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Ethan asked. "He died fighting. It's what Spartans do."

"You won't," Maria said. "I'm not letting you die."

Ethan tapped his fingers on his helmet for a few seconds before standing, Maria disappearing in a flash as he walked out of the room and to his barracks room. One of the benefits of being him was that he was given his own room to spare everyone else the indignity of being stuck with him. He set the helmet on the floor beside his bed and climbed in, sighing and closing his eyes.

"Wake me in the morning," Ethan said. "And make sure I wake up with enough time to shave this time, alright?"

"If you insist," Maria shrugged, remaining silent until Ethan was on the verge of falling asleep before waking him. "Is this enough time to shave?"

"I _will_ decomission you," Ethan threatened.

Maria chuckled. "Alright, alright. Go to sleep. I'll behave this time."

Ethan nodded and drifted off. The next morning, he walked into his bedroom and yawned, quickly brushing his teeth and shaving his stubble before staring at his reflection. Short, messy brown hair swept to the right and back, vibrant blue eyes, slightly tan skin, though still too pale from wearing the armor too often, eternal shadows under his eyes, and a single scar down the left side of his face above and below his eye like Kakashi Hatake from Naruto, or Scar from Lion King. Now there was a classic.

"Good luck today," Maria said.

"I don't need luck," Ethan said, grabbing his helmet off the floor and walking out of the room, Maria walking at his side. "It's just Marines."

Maria chuckled and nodded, and they walked to the armor bay, getting his armor on before heading to the simulation room. The simulation room was a huge square room with square blocks slightly taller than the average SPARTAN-IV spread throughout it in a grid. The blocks, however, could rise from, and sink into, the floor as needed. Currently, they were in the floor, and there were a line of five Spartans, including Palmer, waiting for Ethan, all five of their armor white with yellow highlights, where Ethan's armor was mostly dark blue, since that color went with both his robot arm and his black bodysuit the best.

"We figued you'd gotten tired of working over our Marines, and our Marines are definitely tired of it, so you'll be going up against us today," Palmer said, tossing him one of the two staves she was holding.

Ethan caught it and the ends sparked for a moment before he sighed. it was a Spartan pugil stick, one designed for indoc training. The electricity short-circuited the motor functions of the armor, leaving it too heavy for a Spartan to move properly and disabling them for a few minutes. He looked up at Palmer as she pulled her helmet on. He didn't want to do this. He hated training against her. He always felt guilty.

"Begin," Palmer said.

The other four rushed him instantly, beginning to strike at him rapidly. And he reacted easily. He spun, ducked, deflected, and struck back rapidly. He knocked a staff aside and drilled the end of his staff into one Spartan's gut, then flipped the end down and around, catching another under the chin, flipping him backward. One swiped at him from the side and he spun away, avoiding the strike before propellering his staff, the ends slamming into the spartan rapidly before he turned in a complete circle, bringing the staff around like a bat into the side of the Spartan's helmet and launching him into the fourth. The first Spartan jabbed at Ethan quickly and he deflected the blows before stepping forward, watching the Spartan's staff between his own and his side, then spun, the staff hitting the Spartan and flinging him into the second Spartan. As they crashed to the ground, the fourth hurled his staff like a javelin into Ethan's chest and sprinted forward, catching it only for Ethan to drop, sweeping his feet out from under him with a kick, then slam the pugil stick into his helmet as he dropped. He stood, looking around at the three unconscious Spartans around him, and the one who's armor mobility was shut down.

"That wasn't too bad," Ethan said, then dropped and spun to his right as Palmer's staff swiped down at him from behind.

She spun, swiping at him again and he deflected it over himself before they began to block and trade blows, both struggling to gain the upper hand. However, finally, Ethan caught her staff with his robot hand and yanked it away from her before shoving it back at her, the end of it crashing into her chest armor hard enough to throw her away. He tossed the stick aside and sighed.

"You alright Palmer?" he asked.

"Great," Palmer groaned, standing. "I forget how much force that arm's got. I think we'll skip hand-to-hand combat for today."

"Probably a good idea," he nodded. "What's next?"

"Sticky paint," Palmer said, as a hatch opened in the floor on either end of the room and the blocks rose out of the floor.

He nodded, walking to the table and picking up the magnum and a pair of mags with sticky paint rounds loaded into them. Sticky paint wasn't quite accurate. It was instant cement. It was solid until given an electric charge, at which point it liquified and fell away. It was also a very effective, if not entirely fun, way to train. Well, alright. It was _kind of_ fun for him.

He spun around the first pillar as the buzzer sounding the beginning of the simulation went off and immediately snapped his arm up, firing three shots and hitting one of the Spartans in the chest twice and the head, dropping him. He started forward at a quick combat glide, moving with a practiced ease. One of the Spartans stepped out beside him, raising their pistol to his head with one hand, but they were entirely too close. Ethan's head snapped up, catching his wrist and jerking the pistol to the side just in time for the shot to hit another Spartan on Ethan's other side in the pistol. Ethan jumped, kicking the second Spartan in the chest and forcing them back before landing and spinning, swinging the Spartan whose arm he was holding around into a pillar before shooting him in the back of both shoulders and thighs, tacking him to the block. He Spun instantly, sweeping a punch from the other spartan aside and drove the barrel of his pistol into their gut before grabbing their arm and twisting it around behind their back and spinning, using the Spartan to block several shots from the other Spartan. Then, he shoved them away and dropped his mag just in time for Palmer to step out and snap kick his pistol into the air, raising her own. He shoved her wrist out to the side as she fired and swept her arm over his head, twisting it forward, bending her forward at the waist before stripping the pistol away from her and catching his own, grabbing his spare mag between his pistol and the stolen pistol as he slammed a push kick into Palmer's side, throwing her away.

Then, he leapt backward as several shots flashed past, hitting the block. He slammed the mag in as Palmer reached him again, punching at him. He leaned out of the way and slammed a devastating uppercut into her gut with his pistol, the pistol's slide racking as he did just from how hard he threw the punch. It also lifted Palmer off the ground just in time for her back to block several shots aimed at his face. Ethan spun away, around a block and sprinted forward, then dropped into a slide as the Spartan stepped out to shoot at him, taking their legs out from under them before turning and emptying both pistols into their torso and limbs, completely immobilizing them.

He sighed, standing as the ground and blocks all electrified slightly, just enough to remove the sticky paint, but not enough to get through their armor. Palmer stood and he handed her back her pistol. Then, they reset and went again. Then again, and again. Each time played out in a different order, and each time ended with Ethan not receiving a single hit. Finally, when the score hit ten for him, and zero for Palmer and her team, all of whom were limping, hobbling, and complaining about him, Palmer called it a day.

"I can understand why the Marines hate training with him," one of the Spartans complained. "That freak's barely even human anymore."

"Yeah, no shit," one of the Spartans groaned. "Now I know how the Marines felt every time we fought an Elite."

"Dammit, why won't Captain Del Rio just kick this fucking asshole off the ship?" the first asked. "He's not even military is he?"

"Not really," the fourth said. "He's some kind of Freelancer or something. A military contractor, I think."

"Close," Ethan said, walking into the hallway from the training room, Palmer just behind him. "I'm as close to a Freelancer mercenary as the UNSC can legally get."

One of the Spartans snorted. "Yeah, okay."

"I said 'the closest they can legally get,'" Ethan repeated, "not the closest they go."

"Spartans, if you have time to bitch and gossip about him being here, you have time to work, so you're going to clean the pistols," Palmer said. "I'll be back to inspect them after chow."

All four began to complain, but turned, heading back to the training room anyway. Ethan headed to the armor bay with Palmer, both getting their armor taken off before heading up to one of the observation decks. Ethan leaned on the railing and sighed, staring out at the stars.

"Are you alright?" Palmer asked.

"I should be asking you that," Ethan said. "Sarah-"

"Don't," Palmer interrupted. "Don't do that. I'm not mad you kicked my ass. You know that. It was training. You were _supposed_ to kick my ass."

"How did you know what I was going to say?" Ethan asked.

"We've known each other for long enough for me to read you pretty well, Ethan," Palmer said. "Which is why...I know you're struggling with your...circumstances. Dr. Halsey asked me to give her reports on your mental condition, you know? I've been telling her you've been degrading."

"I know," Ethan said. "I've read your reports. You're surprisingly accurate."

"What did they do to you?" Palmer asked.

"They took away my humanity," Ethan said.

Palmer was silent for a while before speaking. "Any girls caught your eye?"

"Come on Palmer, you know me better than that," Ethan said. "The only girl I'm keeping an eye on is Halsey, that way I know when to pull the trigger."

Palmer sighed, shaking her head. "You shouldn't joke about that."

"Who's joking?" Ethan asked. "That cunt earned it after everything she did. To the early Spartans _and_ to me."

Palmer remained silent again. "We'll probably get to chow just as the mess hall opens if we go now. It's Fat Ass Friday."

"Mmm," Ethan smiled. "Burgers."

Palmer smiled. "I thought that might cheer you up."

"Hell yeah," Ethan smiled. "I love eating like a fat ass."

Palmer chuckled and nodded and they left, heading for the mess hall.

* * *

Leave a review. For those of you who don't know, I got the idea for the training from Red vs Blue. Wonderful show, definitely recommend you watch it.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

* * *

Trouble

Ethan lay down in his bed and stared at his mechanical hand, laying on the bed in front of him. It hadn't been that long since he had gotten it. Not really. Not that long since he had lost what little humanity he had had.

* * *

Ethan slowed to a stop beside cover and took several shaky breaths. Fuck he hated this job. He hated being a Marine. He hated being in combat. He hated the Covenant, and humanity, and the Forerunners. Why should he care if some Elite reactivated some Forerunner object on some random moon like X50? He didn't care about Draetheus V. He didn't care about X50. He didn't care that the entire planet was going to explode. He just wanted to go home. To see his family again. Not this bullshit.

"Marine, you good?" the Spartan keeping them alive, barely, asked.

"No I am not fucking good!" Ethan snapped. "I'm about to die on some God forsaken moon that no one even cared to give a real name!"

The Spartan stared at him before looking to the front again. "Here they come. Be ready."

Ethan groaned, then stood and turned as the Spartan gave the order to open fire. The other Marines did the same. There were so many, though. Grunts, Jackals, Elites. So many Elites. A massive green plasma blast suddenly hit a small sandbag wall and exploded, splattering several Marines across one of the walls. Ethan swore. Hunters. His Assault rifle ran dry. He dropped the gun and sprinted toward a weapons rack off to his left. There was a SAW. He loved SAWs. They ripped through Elite shields like they didn't exist. He reached out for it just as a glowing blue ball hit his hand. His eyes widened. No. Dear God no. Why?

* * *

Ethan sat bolt upright, left hand brushing at his right, trying to swat away the grenade he was sure was supposed to be there. And he was screaming. he stopped himself screaming and stared at his hand, gasping for breath. He didn't remember falling asleep. He took several minutes to calm himself, slowing his breathing before pushing himself up and heading to his bathroom. He wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep. He never could when he dreamt about that. So he might as well get going. After he had done his usual morning routine, he looked at the clock. One twenty seven in the morning.

"Christ," Ethan sighed. "It's going to be a long day."

He walked to the armor bay, getting his armor on, then headed to the simulation room. As he walked in, Maria formed beside the control panel next to the door, giving him a concerned look and folding her arms across her diaphragm as she always did when she was worried about him.

"I'll be fine, Maria," Ethan said, loading an Assault rifle with stun rounds. "Simulation seventeen, please."

Maria nodded and rested a hand on the panel. Instantly, some of the blocks rose, and virtual Elites began to rise, charging at him from the far side of the room, opening fire. Their Energy Rifles would deliver a nasty shock if he was hit, and three hits would end the simulation. Like wise, the stun rounds his rifle was loaded with were bolts of electricity, a relatively new invention of Humanity's, one that the Elites taught them to make as a part of their peace agreement. The bullets would affect the Elites about the same way a normal bullet would, meaning barely any at all.

He ducked into cover, allowing the initial volley to hit the block before stepping out and going to work. Barely any effect or not, he took down the Elites quickly, barring them from getting close. He used cover when needed, and dropped Elite after Elite. After a bit, Grunts and Jackals began to spawn as well, and he dropped those too. He worked quickly and relentlessly, his enhancements carrying him through the fight nearly seamlessly. Nearly, of course, because after about ten minutes, three Elites scored a lucky hit one after another, ending the simulation. He sighed, nodding to Maria, who restarted the simulation. And so, he continued. Round after round, on and on he went for hours, working himself past the point of exhaustion. Finally, after close to five hours, three Elites blasted him in the chest at the same time, the resulting blast of electricity dropping him to the ground in a twitching, convulsing heap for several seconds before fading. As he stood, Palmer walked in, also in armor and with stun rounds.

"Another nightmare?" Palmer asked.

"The same one," Ethan said. "As always."

"I can understand why," Palmer nodded. "Shall we?"

"Maria, simulation twenty five," Ethan said.

Maria rested a hand on the control panel again and Flood creatures began to form. Palmer nodded and the two of them went to work killing the creatures. The Flood was created from descriptions, recordings, and scanned memories from anyone and everyone that had ever fought them, all but the Master Chief himself, since he was still Missing In Action. The Arbiter's memories had been the most useful in creating the Flood simulation. However, it hadn't come out perfectly. The Arbiter had reported that they were too slow, and too easily killed. So, the creators of the simulation had tweaked it a bit. Now, the Flood were damn-near immortal. Even after being blasted and supposedly killed, the flood spores would bring them back, then generate more spores. As result, within about five minutes, Palmer and Ethan were both killed by a sea of Flood Spores.

"I'm so glad I never had to fight them for real," Palmer sighed.

"You and me both," Ethan said. "I wasn't even a Marine at the time."

Palmer nodded. "We should be reaching Halo Three today."

Ethan nodded. "I really don't want to go near that artifact. I don't like being vaporized."

His left hand reached over to his right arm and Palmer set a hand on his shoulder, her helmet held under one arm.

"Ethan, I am not going to let you be vaporized," Palmer said. "Alright? We're going home in one piece. Both of us."

Ethan smiled and nodded. "Thanks Sarah."

She smiled and nodded, walking to the door out of the room. "Come on. You've been in here so long you almost missed chow."

Ethan nodded and followed her out of the room.

* * *

"What did you find?" Palmer asked.

"A shit-ton," Ethan said as he and Maria both looked through the data Maria was pulling from the artifact. "There's so much data. I have no idea what this thing is, but it's got an access point to some kind of Forerunner data storage called The Domain. Get this. Maria hacked her way into The Domain and found out how to make Hardlight, stronger shields, and also found some coordinates for some installation or something. It's not logged anywhere in the UNSC star maps."

"Could be worth a look," Palmer pointed out, looking to Del Rio.

"Alright," Del Rio nodded. "We'll head to the coordinates. Transfer the rest of the data you've collected to the UNSC. And have your A.I. form a mobile tap to The Domain to keep studying it while we go."

"We tried," Ethan said. "We can't. We'll have to come back to tap back in. She has to use this thing as a sort of back door. We'll transfer the data we've already collected, but if you want the rest, we'll have to stay here for about ten years. Probably more."

"Fine," Del Rio sighed. "Head back to the ship. We'll be leaving in an hour."

Ethan nodded and Maria disconnected from the artifact. Ethan pulled her chip and stuck it back into his helmet. She transferred the data they had gotten on Hardlight, A.I. upgrades, and shield generators to Halsey, since that was a part of their orders, and headed back to the ship. On the way Ethan grabbed a handful of odds and ends that he was sure no one would miss. A Mantis's rocket here, a fuel cell there, a personal data pad from one poor guy who had left his porn on the screen when he went to the bathroom. When he got back to the Infinity, he headed to his room to drop off his spoils before going to the armor bay, then back to his room, sneaking an Assault Rifle out of the armor bay on the way, making it to his room without being caught. He quickly disassembled the Assault Rifle, the data pad, and the rocket and began to tinker, putting the fuel cell in a magazine at one point, and continuing to tinker with the gun itself. After a couple hours, the door opened and he looked up as Palmer leaned against the door, watching him.

"You are breaking so many rules right now," she said, then stepped inside, letting the door close behind him.

"I think there's also a rule about anyone being in someone else's room with them with the door closed," Ethan pointed out, returning to work.

"Technically that rule only applies if there's a reason for it to need to be open," Palmer said. "Is there?"

"Well, let's see," Ethan smirked. "A man who's at least average, and a very attractive woman are alone together in a room, the door's closed and locked, both get put in life-threatening situations constantly..." he paused to focus on his work for a moment, "...the man has a stolen rocket, a stolen fuel cell, and a functional assault rifle, and is currently connecting pieces of said explosive to said rifle, while the fuel cell is currently jammed into a magazine. No. No reason at all. Can't think of any rules being broken in-"

_ BZZZT!_

"Mother fucker!" Ethan swore, sticking his finger into his mouth as Palmer smirked.

"Attractive huh?"

"Oh don't act like you think otherwise," Ethan snorted. "I've seen you flirt with Lasky to get him to do what you want."

Palmer shrugged noncommittally. "So, what _are_ you doing?"

Ethan grinned, finally finishing and quickly reassembling the rifle completely in a few seconds, slapping the mag in. "Upgrades."

Palmer raised an eyebrow at the rifle. The display at the top seemed a little brighter than normal, but otherwise, she couldn't tell there was anything different about it at all. Not that there was anything unusual about that. Ethan was almost as good with technology as an AI. Constantly upgrading weapons and vehicles without asking permission or even botching to let anyone know he had. She had once gone into a firefight with a DMR and found that when she pulled the trigger, a beam fired from it, the same type as came out of a Covenant Particle Beam Rifle. She hadn't asked how he had done it, she hadn't asked how he had _known_ how to do it. She had just enjoyed the fruits of his labor by sniping Covenant forces from across the battlefield, even managing to get a beam through the nose of a ghost at one point.

"What kind of upgrades?" Palmer asked.

"The kind that kill whatever's on the business end of the rifle when I pull the trigger," Ethan said.

Palmer narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I'm not going to go into my next firefight and find out I have a Fuel Rod Gun inside of an Assault Rifle, am I?"

"Firstly, no, this is now my personal weapon, which will definitely not be hidden between my mattress and the wall just in case we get invaded like the Pillar of Autumn," Ethan said.

"Good to know where not to find it if I need it," Palmer said. "Continue."

"Secondly, it's not a Fuel Rod Gun, although the idea _did_ occur to me," Ethan said. "Check this out. In case my HUD is either down or I'm out of armor, I added a sight." He shouldered the rifle and a small holographic oval appeared on top of the rifle, about midway along the upper curve, a small crosshair inside of it. Aside from that, I'll have to test it to see if the rest of the upgrades worked. If they did, you'll see what it does."

Palmer rolled her eyes. "Ethan, do I need to remind you what happened the last time you tinkered with an assault rifle?"

"Hey, that thing exploding was not my fault!" Ethan defended himself. "That dumbass was the one who clogged his barrel with dirt."

"Ethan," Palmer said, giving him a serious look now. "What's it do?"

He sighed. "It's supposed to fire Hardlight rounds instead of bullets. They'll deal more damage, and will also penetrate armor better. But I didn't exactly have the best supplies to work with, which is why I'm testing it myself. For all I know, I could have made a bomb. So, in the event something goes wrong...at least I have some experience with blowing up."

Palmer sat beside him on then bed and rested a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I've never said it, never really thought about it, but I'm sorry. I'm the one who chose for you to stay back and help Davis, so it's my fault you got hurt. I'm sorry I didn't take you with me."

"Sarah, it's not your fault," Ethan said. "If anything, it's whichever Covenant bastard threw the grenade, or mine for going for the weapons when I did. Or for not watching my ammo before then. The last person I would ever blame is you."

Palmer smiled and nodded. "I suppose it wasn't all bad, though, was it? I mean, you're a super-badass now who whoops Spartans' asses when _we're_ supposed to be punishing _you_."

"And I wouldn't have you as a friend if it hadn't happened," Ethan added.

"I am pretty great aren't I?" Palmer smiled, Ethan shoving her on the shoulder playfully. "Seriously, though, no exploding yourself. Take it to the range and put it in a remote shooter. Better another pointless ass chewing from the Captain than you getting blown up again. Your face probably won't look so pretty coming out of a second one." She stood and walked to the door, only to stop, looking back at him. "Oh, and do me a favor? Stop making my life hard by exercising your immunity to getting kicked off this ship. Just because the UNSC's top brass says you can do literally anything on this ship without punishment doesn't mean you should. So next time, either hold me hostage when you take off, punch Del Rio and get it over with, or just behave."

"Those first two sound pretty fun," Ethan smirked. "I think I might stop by a beach next time."

Palmer smiled, rolling her eyes, and left the room. A moment later, Maria appeared in front of him, holding a hand out to the rifle. You crossed two of the wires. It'll explode."

Ethan sighed and took the rifle apart again, doublechecking his work and correcting the mistake before reassembling it again and heading to the ship's range. He put it in a vice with a remote-controlled firing mechanism before walking to the observation room and pressing the switch. The Assault rifle let off a burst and glowing blue Hardlight projectiles shot across the room, punching through the targets completely. However, when he pressed the switch again, nothing happened. He looked to the rifle and saw the display was off and the gun was smoking.

"What happened?" he asked.

"The fuel cell burned itself out after the first burst," Maria reported. "We'll need better wires, and a stronger, and more stable, power source."

"Dammit," he sighed, walking over and taking the rifle out of its vice, tossing it into the trash chute beside him before leaving to find something else to do.

* * *

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	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

* * *

Conflict

Ethan carefully placed the last piece on his most recent Assault Rifle, tightening its bolt to secure it in place and having Maria run a quick diagnostic of it. However, as she finished, she shook her head and he sighed. He had suspected as much. They couldn't find a good enough power source, or wiring that could withstand the strain.

"You managed to get up to twenty shots, this time, but this time it would have exploded," she reported. "Also, I believe we will need a focusing lense for the light. The last time, you melted the end of your barrel."

"Dammit," Ethan sighed. "I just want a Hardlight weapon. Is that really so much to ask?"

"You_ do_ realize that's asking more of a human weapon than it would be of a covenant one, right?" Maria

"Yeah I know," Ethan sighed, just as the door opened and Palmer walked in, raising an eyebrow.

"Any progress?" Palmer asked.

"Only if you don't mind blowing up after," He sighed, beginning to take the weapon apart again. "I wish I could get my hands on some Covenant weapons. Energy Rifles, Plasma Pistols, an Energy Sword. Hey, Maria, are there any Spartan Lasers onboard?"

"No," Palmer said. "You are not taking apart a Spartan Laser. Do you even realize how much those cost? If one goes missing from inventory-"

The door suddenly hissed open, Lasky stepping into the room with a smirk on his face as he was pretending to read a blank data pad.

"I hope you've got a good explanation for why you two are alone in a room with the door...closed," he stared at the half-disassembled Assault Rifle. "Well, this aught to be good. Go ahead. Explain."

"I'm tampering with Military weapons illegally and using stolen odds and ends like wires and fuel cells to try to make a Hardlight-firing Assault Rifle," Ethan said.

Lasky stared at him for a long moment before sighing, resting his face in his hand, Palmer doing the same. "And here I thought maybe I was lucky enough that you were only cleaning it, and the only law you were breaking was having it outside of the armory without authorization."

"Nope," Ethan said, returning to his work, finishing taking the extras out and reassembling the normal Assault Rifle. "Any chance we have an extra Spartan Laser?"

Lasky stared at him. "I'm going to walk away now and pretend I didn't see any of this, because if I _did_ see it, and I _did_ tell you that the last inventory listed one Spartan Laser as broken, and that that Spartan Laser is currently sitting at the firing range waiting to be inspected and tested, then I'd have to report you."

Ethan grinned. "Have a nice day, sir."

Lasky sighed and nodded, leaving, closing the door behind himself.

"What was that you were saying the last time you were in here while I worked about how no one cares about the rule about having the door closed?" Ethan asked.

"Would you prefer it open?" Palmer asked.

"Not really," Ethan said. "If he hadn't been trying to flirt with you, he probably wouldn't have walked in."

"Oh don't start," Palmer said. "Anyway, it's almost time for chow. And today's your favorite day."

"Mmmm," Ethan smiled. "Fat Ass Friday already? That was quick."

"Yeah, it's weird," Palmer said. "It's, like, the same day every week."

"Now who needs to not start?" Ethan snorted, standing. "Alright. Let's go get some food."

Just then, a siren began and Ethan swore, stashing the rifle and running to the armor bay with Palmer, both getting suited up. As Ethan's armor was being put on, one of the technicians, a young blonde named Elena, stepped up in front of him.

"We got a new shipment of armor parts and upgrading equipment in," Elena said. "Any special requests?"

"Magnets," Ethan said. "Like the ones that hold my gun on my back, but everywhere. I want to be a walking armory."

"I can definitely do a walking armory," Elena smiled, then winked, offering him his usual Mark VI helmet and he smiled, pulling it on. "Anything else?"

"I could use a new paint job," Ethan said. "Let's go black."

"What, the visor wasn't enough?" Elena laughs. "Alright. You're the boss."

"I feel like you're making fun of me," Ethan said. "That's hurtful Doc. And here I thought we were friends."

Elena shrugged. "I'll have the upgrades ready for you the next time you need your armor. You'll have to use a spare set for training, though."

"No problem," Ethan said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Sarah's probably going to be mad I'm taking so long."

Elena nodded and Ethan walked past her, making his way quickly through the ship toward the bridge.

"Do I need to tell you how badly she wants your dick, or can you figure it out?" Maria asked.

"You sound jealous," Ethan said.

"Are you kidding?" Maria asked. "I don't even have a physical body. Do you have _any_ idea what it's like to not have a physical body?"

"Oh sure," Ethan smirked. "I do that every Thursday."

Maria's face appeared in the top left corner of his visor, glaring at him and he chuckled. "You're an asshole. I want a new owner."

"That's unfortunate," Ethan smiled. "You're stuck with me." he rounded the corner into the COC and became serious, finding Palmer there, staring at a holographic display of a planet. "What's the situation?"

"We picked up a distress signal from this planet where several Covenant ships are attacking a UNSC weapons factory," Palmer said. "They're supposedly testing some kind of experimental weapon here, so we've been ordered to get the weapon out if we can, drive the Covenant off, evac the scientists, and figure out why the Covenant are attacking a weapons factory. If someone leaked the info about he weapon, we need to know about it."

"That's quite the to-do list," Ethan said. "Guess I'd better get moving."

"Will you be okay?" Palmer asked. "You haven't fought the covenant for real since..."

"I know," Ethan said. "But I'll be fine. After all. This is why I was made, right?"

Palmer nodded and Ethan walked out of the room.

"Made?" Lasky muttered. "What, are Spartans not born anymore?"

Palmer stared at him for a long moment before turning back to the display. "Ethan's...a sort of...a special case."

"What's that mean?" Lasky asked. "A clone?"

"No," Palmer said. "Respectfully sir, it's not my place to say anymore. It's classified."

Lasky sighed. "As long as his real-world combat skills match up to his training simulations, I don't care what he is."

"They will," Palmer said. "I have faith in him."

"I assume his 'special case' is what's so special about him?" Lasky asked.

"You'll see," Palmer said.

* * *

Ethan stepped out of the Pelican and watched the factory in silence for several seconds. He could see a pair of jackals posted on the roof with beam rifles, and he suspected there were more. It usually tended to be more than two with Jul 'Mdama's troops. He swapped his assault rifle for his suppressed DMR, which was loaded with subsonic rounds, and shouldered it, quickly taking both Jackals, then swapped back to his Assault Rifle. He looked over at one of the two Spartans that got assigned to help him with the raid. No Marines, only Spartans, on Ethan's request. Marines were great cannon fodder, but if Ethan could avoid having blood on his hands, he was going to. So, now he only had two Spartans, plus the factory's workers and scientists to worry about.

He took a breath before nodding and sprinting forward. The Spartans both looked at each other to see if the other was as surprised as them, then followed him. As Ethan had expected, six more sniper Jackals stood up on the roof, only for the two Spartans behind him to both take a knee, their DMRs dropping the Jackals before any could shoot. Ethan dropped his shoulder and charged, exploding through the door, which spun into the room and crushed a Grunt's face. Two more shrieked in fear before he quickly killed them both with his Assault Rifle. Then, he spun, firing at an Elite, dropping it after a moment. He turned just as another knocked his rifle away and stabbed at him with an Energy Sword, Ethan spinning out of the way and yanking his knife out, driving it into the side of the Elite's head in reverse grip, catching the handle of the Energy Blade as it fell and attaching it to his side. A Grunt hurled a Plasma Grenade and Ethan dove forward, rolling to his feet and scooping up his rifle just as the other two Spartans finally reached the factory and shot the Grunt, and several more.

Ethan turned away from the door and began to make his way quickly through the massive room, killing anything he found that wasn't human quickly. He wove through the machinery, conveyor belts, and crates of finished weapons as he fought. After a couple of minutes, he spun, taking cover as plasma blasts hit the machine he was hiding behind.

"Incoming call from the techs," Maria reported.

"Spartans!" an aged feminine voice shouted. "We're locked in the control room! We have the prototype with us! Please save us!"

"This is Spartan-Zero-Zero-Zero," Ethan responded, pulling the pin of a grenade and hurling it around the corner blindly, ignoring the flare of his shields as a plasma blast hit it. "Stay where you are and I'll be there shortly."

"Plotting route," Maria said before he could ask, ending the transmission as a glowing line appeared in his view, directing him.

Just as it appeared, the grenade exploded and he turned the corner, quickly dropping the two Elites that had survived, then the Jackal and two Grunts further on. He scooped up an undamaged Energy Rifle on the way past an Elite's corpse, then a Plasma Pistol. He placed the Energy Rifle on the opposite side of his belt as the Energy Sword, then held the Plasma Pistol in his left hand, trapping it between his fingers and the rifle, careful not to fire it.

He followed the glowing line as quickly as he could without all-out sprinting. He wove between the machines now and then, killing any Covenant forces he found, and quickly progressed through the room. He glanced back every once in a while, seeing the two Spartans had gone the other way, heading toward the factory's vehicle bay. Their orders were to secure a method of escape that could fit everyone, so hopefully there was a Pelican.

"Spartan Zero, sit-rep," Palmer said, using her shortened version for his ID, as she always did when talking over the radio, or in front of anyone higher than their own rank that they actually cared about, basically meaning not Lasky because he didn't care, and not Del Rio because neither of them had enough respect for him to.

"En route to the civilians," Ethan said. "They say they have the prototype with them."

"Good," Palmer said. "And the intel?"

"I'm downloading the factory's files into a compressed file now," Maria said. "Once I'm done, I'll wipe the local copy."

"Good," Palmer said.

"She can do that without being plugged into the system directly?" Lasky's voice asked. "Even Cortana has to be plugged in, and she's the most advanced AI humanity's ever made."

"Maria's a special case," Palmer said. "Now shut up. Spartan Zero, will you be able to find out what the Covenant is doing there?"

"I'll probably have to board a Covenant ship for that, Commander," Ethan said.

"Then disregard that objective," Palmer said. "Get the eggheads and their toy, then get back here."

"Understood, Commander," Ethan nodded, just as he rounded a corner and found A covenant computer set up, a Grunt shouting into it for help.

Ethan grinned. "Hello beautiful."

He sprinted forward, grabbing the grunt by the head and smashing it into the ground hard enough that its skull caved in and its mask flew off, blood spraying out of its mouth. Then, he turned to the computer, seeing an Elite glaring at him.

"Maria?" he asked, setting a hand on it. The Elite vanished, replaced by Maria's face and she looked thoughtful for a moment as she scanned the computer's information.

"Done," Maria said, Ethan lifting his hand.

Maria disappeared from the screen and the computer switched off as Ethan turned and continued through the building.

"Commander," Maria said, calling Palmer. "We had a stroke of luck. We found a Covenant terminal and I hacked in. The Covenant are planning to use the factory to mass produce weapons for Jul 'Mdama."

"I see," Palmer said. "Then I guess we're going to have to refuse them. See if you can find a way to tell the Covenant to go away."

Ethan rounded a corner and slowed to a stop, staring at a gigantic anti-aircraft railgun. "Yeah, I think we can send that message pretty effectively. You seeing what I am?"

"Oh I see it," Palmer said. "Get to the nerds. You're going to use that to cover their evac, then to send our message."

"Understood," Ethan said, continuing along Maria's lighted path. "However, I'd rather not Noble Six this mission."

"Don't worry about that," Palmer said. "I'm not leaving any of my men behind."

"Plural huh?" Ethan asked, smirking. "Well, I hope I'm still your favorite."

"Another crack like that and you won't be," Palmer warned, halfway joking.

She disconnected and Ethan reached a set of stairs, climbing them quickly to a sealed door and pounding a fist on it. After a moment, it opened and he walked inside, seeing four technicians, a pair of scientists, one an older woman and one a younger guy, and a distinct lack of weapons of any kind.

"The prototype?" Ethan asked.

"That wasn't entirely true," the older woman said. "We just wanted to be your top priority."

"Where is it?" Ethan asked, trying not to be too offended that they'd lied to him.

"It's downstairs," the woman said. "We can get it on the way."

"Go," Ethan said.

The civilians ran out of the room and Ethan checked his ammo. Two mags left. He sighed, following them down the stairs and to a massive steel door. The woman entered a code and the door rose, revealing a mech suit about four feet taller than him with the right arm ending in a minigun and the left in a mechanical fist. He stared at it. He recognized it. It was a prototype of the armor eventually given to SPARTAN-IIs, specifically one that anyone could wear, and which was destroyed during the battle of Algolis during the early days of the human-covenant war.

"What is this?" Ethan asked. "Please tell me this is a joke, and _this_ isn't really the prototype."

"It is," Maria confirmed. "I just found its data. They remade it so the UNSC wouldn't need to rely so heavily on Spartans."

"Commander, are you seeing this?" Ethan asked.

"I am," Palmer said. "Get that armor back to the ship if you can. Self-destruct it if you can't."

"Will do," Ethan said. "Where's its helmet?"

"It's not finished," one of the technicians said. "Its HUD kept bugging out."

"Let me see," Ethan said, holding out his hand.

The technician ran over to a locker on the side and brought back a helmet that looked just like any other Spartan's Mark VI helmet. He accepted it, then pressed the arming button on a plasma grenade and stuck it inside the helmet before hurling it. The explosion blasted the helmet into scrap and Ethan walked over to the armor, climbing in through the front, since it opened as he neared it. Once inside, he reached his arms into the suit's arms, finding a handle on both sides. The left hand a trigger for each finger, which made the suit's fingers curl, and the handle rotated with the hand. The other handle had a single trigger for the minigun.

"God I hope this thing gets destroyed," Ethan said. "So many ways this can go wrong. Let's go."

He was seated in a chair and there were a pair of pedals that controlled the legs. He began to run with them and after a few steps, managed to get the hang of it. However, anyone else would take much longer, and would need a crane to pick it up. "God I hope this suit gets scrapped. So many ways for this to go wrong."

The civilians followed behind him and after a few minutes, they reached the vehicle bay where the other two Spartans were waiting at a Pelican. Both stood up the moment Ethan san in with the suit.

"What the fuck is that!?" one of them demanded.

"The weapon," Ethan said, running it into the Pelican and all the way to the front before jumping out.

He didn't know how to turn, or walk backward, and he didn't want to. Not his problem. He jumped back out and ran into the factory again, this time to the railgun. As he sat in the gunner seat, Maria raised the railgun, a hole opening in the ceiling over it as he did. Once it was in position, he got to work. The gun had to charge for three seconds before firing, but it was powerful. The few phantoms and banshees flying around were all blasted into tiny pieces when the shot hit. Anything that was left after the first three shots was sent into a panic, trying not to get shot. The other two Spartans used the distraction to leave, and Ethan continued to rapidly clear the skies. As he was mopping up the last couple phantoms, the cruiser began to turn to leave, moving quickly. However, before it could, Ethan turned the railgun on it.

"Maria, light up the ship's core for me," Ethan said.

A sphere of light appeared in the ship and he targeted it. The railgun fired, scoring a direct hit, and the cruiser began to fall, only to explode into banshee-sized pieces halfway down. Ethan grinned. If there was someone who knew how to operate the thing in the factory, it would be safe.

"Good job Spartan," Palmer said. "I'm sending a Pelican to pick you up. If you want any souvenirs, grab them now."

"Nah, I got what I needed," Ethan said as Maria lowered the gun again for him. "Is the UNSC going to send someone to run this thing to defend the factory?"

"Probably," Palmer said. "Meet your Pelican outside."

"Will do," Ethan said, walking toward the door.

He stopped beside a dead Elite and took the Energy Dagger's wrist unit that he was wearing, slipping it on before heading to the Pelican outside. A short ride later, he reached the ship and Maria transferred the factory's data to a storage unit one of the technicians had on them, actually, a couple of storage units, before Ethan headed for the cargo bay. Once out of his armor, he took his new toys to his room to play.

* * *

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	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

* * *

Work In Progress

Ethan slid the focusing lense he had taken out of the newly non-functional Spartan Laser, then had filed down to fit properly, into place, making sure everything was properly aligned and secured before reassembling the rifle. It was ready. Probably. Maybe. He hummed thoughtfully to himself before setting it aside and picking up the Energy Sword he had been tinkering with. Generating a solid object out of Hardlight, and not a projectile, was theoretically easier. And he was almost finished. He just needed to make a few more adjustments. The door opened as he was finishing and he looked up at Palmer as she leaned against the doorframe, smirking and raising an eyebrow. He pressed the switch to activate the weapon and, in place of the usual energy blades, a Hardlight blade appeared outside his fingers, except it was rounded and only a couple inches thick. Too small to be used for anything but punching, not that it wouldn't be an effective weapon for that, considering that as he sighed and let his hand fall, the blade sliced the front half of his chair's arm off with no noticeable resistance at all.

"Not bad," Palmer said. "Looks like you're having a little trouble getting it up, though."

"Eh," Ethan shrugged. "I tend to approach my modifications with a 'Results May Vary' attitude."

"So you're going to leave it like that?" Palmer asked.

"Fuck no!" Ethan snorted. "I want a sword. Not Hardlight brass knuckles. No, it's an easy fix. I just need to make a projector for the blade to shape around."

"That's easy to you?" Palmer asked. "What's hard then?"

"Hardlight hand grenades," Ethan said.

"Oh God, please tell me you're not," Palmer said.

"Hell no!" Ethan scoffed. "Fuck that! I'm not going to make something specifically designed to blow me up. I might accidentally make a few rifles that explode before I finish, if this one's not ready, but I'm not intentionally building a bomb. Yet. I don't know. Maybe for a mission someday."

"No," Palmer said. "You're never going to be allowed on bomb duty. You'd probably find a way to turn a frag into a nuke."

"But think of how useful a pocket nuke could be," Ethan snorted.

"Right," Palmer said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, Since you were in a shootout during chow, I went ahead and grabbed one for you."

She held out a cheeseburger wrapped in white wax paper and he cheered, grabbing her in a hug and spinning before taking the burger and beginning to eat quickly. Palmer laughed as he did. "I will never understand why you get so belligerently excited over cheeseburgers. They're not even that good."

Ethan swallowed his first bite, which was almost a quarter of his burger. "Belligerence is exactly why. My belligerency makes you laugh, and I love to hear you laugh. Hence, cheeseburgers."

Palmer smiled and shook her head. "And you accuse me of flirting with Lasky."

"You _do_ flirt with Lasky," Ethan said.

"You jealous?" Palmer smirked.

"Hell yeah I am," Ethan said dramatically. "Lasky ain't me."

Palmer blinked for a moment before smirking and shaking her head. "You better be careful before I start thinking you're actually being serious."

Ethan simply smiled and shook his head, taking another bite out of his burger. "You want to test the rifle with me?"

"Sure," Palmer smiled. "Think it's ready?"

"Maybe," Ethan said, finishing his burger and wiping the grease on his pants before picking up the rifle and stashing the energy sword's handle, making sure wit wouldn't accidentally activate.

They walked through the ship together, chatting about small things, like what they were planning to do the next few days, assuming they didn't come under attack by anyone. As always, they were both planning to follow the exact same schedule as every other day. They eventually moved on to talking about their plans for their next shore leave.

"I think I might see if there's a spa wherever we go," Palmer said. "I could use a nice day of relaxation after having to deal with you this whole time."

"Very funny," Ethan said as they reached the firing range and Ethan put the rifle in a vice, attaching the firing device before walking back out to her. "You know you love being around me. I make every day interesting." He pressed the switch and pieces of assault rifle crashed into the glass beside him, though he didn't flinch or look away from Palmer. "Man I'm glad I tested that thing here first."

Palmer chuckled and nodded. "Should have given it to Jul 'Mdama as a peace offering."

"Hah!" Ethan laughed. "I can imagine the look on his face. it'd probably be pretty open, and probably a bit purple."

"As always, your powers of comedy are unmatched," Palmer smirked as she helped him clean up the pieces of rifle and throw them away. "So, what are you going to try next, Bombmaker?"

"Ouch," Ethan said as they left the range. "Hurtful. That depends. Maria, any clue why it exploded?"

"The wiring kept from melting, but it didn't allow enough power to flow through, so the fuel cell overloaded," Maria said.

"Damn," Ethan said. "Guess I need better wiring."

"Have you tried swapping wires for fiberoptic cables?" Palmer asked. "You're trying to make light into projectiles, right?"

"We did try it," Ethan said. "The problem is that human and covenant fiberoptic cables aren't durable enough. The wires are, but they're too restrictive. I just need to be able to study a Hardlight projector, like a light bridge, for a while. Or just rip it apart for salvage. Whichever works."

Palmer smirked and shook her head. "Can't you just make bullets into Hardlight projectors, like you're doing with the sword?"

"That's both too easy a solution, and also a very expensive and wasteful one," Ethan said. "I'd have to make more every time I reload."

Palmer shrugged as they reached his room again. "That's fair, I guess. Well, I'm sure there will be Hardlight projectors wherever those coordinates you found are leading us."

"Christ I hope so," Ethan said. "Hell, I hope we get really lucky and we find a Forerunner armory filled with Hardlight weapons."

"Oh, now _that_ would be fun," Palmer said. "Humanity would have a ball."

Ethan flopped onto his bed and sighed comfortably. "You know, I always wondered something."

"What's that?" Palmer asked.

"Master Chief was supposed to be unkillable, right?" I ask. "So, what happened?"

"I'm sure you've heard the report at one point or another," Palmer said. "He and Arbiter tried to take the Forward Unto Dawn through the portal from the Arc back to Earth. The front half of the ship made it through with the Arbiter, but the back half was lost when the portal collapsed. He's listed as MIA ever since."

"Right, but, what if it wasn't just lost?" Ethan asked. "What if it was sent off into Slipspace? Or what if it was just spit out somewhere else? It could be drifting around right now, waiting for someone to find it."

"That theory was already brought up," Palmer said. "However, the UNSC decided it was too expensive to go looking for one Spartan, no matter what he did."

"Figures," Ethan snorted. "And another thing, how the hell did he never earn a Medal of Honor? Or at least a Navy Cross? I mean really! The man blows up Halo to stop the Flood, and the Covenant, kills Truth, alongside the Arbiter, then blows up the Arc to stop the Flood, and he gets nothing? Even posthumously? What kind of bullshit is that?"

"Who would they have given his award to after he went missing?" Palmer asked.

Ethan is silent for a moment. "Halsey, I suppose. Or Blue Team, maybe."

"Halsey's more likely, but she was under investigation," Palmer said.

"Still," Ethan said, staring up at the ceiling.

"Is there something wrong, Ethan?" Palmer asked. "You seem...unhappy, all of a sudden."

"I suppose," Ethan sighed. "I just...you know about...how extensive my...surgery was, right?"

"Yes," Palmer nodded. "What about it?"

"Well...part of the downside of that is...I don't really...I don't know if I'm...me, anymore," Ethan said. "It's...hard to know who you are when you...well...you know."

Palmer nodded. "I think I understand. When I first became a Spartan, I felt similarly. I can sympathize with you, even if no knowing exactly how you feel."

Ethan nodded.

"If I could interrupt," Maria said, appearing from a projector on the wall. "You should know, I've finished finding a design for the sword that I think you'll like, and that also won't explode."

"Your timing is as perfect as ever Maria," Ethan said sarcastically, sighing as he sat up. "Just compile a list of parts and make a blueprint for me."

"Oh, and also, Del Rio is looking for Palmer," Maria said.

"Joy," Palmer said, rolling her eyes. She turned back to Ethan and rested a hand on his shoulder. "If you ever need to talk, all you have to do is ask."

Ethan nodded and she left, closing the door behind her. He sighed, pulling out the sword handle and extending the Hardlight blade. After a few moments, he deactivated it and set it beside the bed, laying down as Maria walked over to sit on the bed, at least, as much as she could.

"I'm sorry," Maria said. "I didn't want to interrupt, but Del Rio was getting close, and you know he's just looking for a reason and method to fuck with you."

"I know," Ethan sighed. "I'm not mad. Can you show me the design?"

Maria nodded and held out her hand, a hologram of the sword appearing over it, except that there was a long section of medal extending from the small ridge in the middle of the front, which was flat on the sides and had a projector all the way around it for the blade. It was about two feet long and ended in a point, ensuring the blade would be about the same length as a normal energy sword and would also have a point on the end. She was right. He liked it.

"What do we need?" Ethan asked, pushing himself to his feet and walking out of the door, Maria walking along beside him, once again only visible to him.

"Are we going shopping?" Maria asked.

"We most definitely are," Ethan smiled.

"Excellent," Maria said. "We can find everything we need in the average human armory."

"Good," Ethan smiled as he stepped into the armory and saw the Marine currently on duty look up at him then immediately turn away, pretending he wasn't actually there.

Maria led him around the room and talked him through acquiring all of the pieces he needed, and on the way out, Maria hacked the Marine's bank account to give him a pay increase. Ethan headed back to his room and set to work, working carefully and double and triple checking his work, then checking it again just to be safe. Finally, he finished and held up the sword.

"We're sure it's not going to explode, right?" Ethan asked.

"Scanning," Maria said. "Yes, we're sure. Out of a thousand simulations, only one exploded."

"Excellent," Ethan said, activating it.

It was about two and a half feet long with the blade on either side of the projector being about three inches on each side, and was shaped more or less like an energy sword with the usual curve at the base, then the rest of the blade straight to the point, except that instead of having an opening between the two blades, it was a single blade. He whistled. He liked it.

"How many uses before it dies?" he asked, just as the light flickered and died. "Right. Well...fuck."

"Sorry," Maria said. "Forgot to check that."

"Well, now what?"

"We'll need a better power source," Maria said. "At least this one's wiring is good."

"That's because this one's blade doesn't need to pump out insane amounts of power every time to be able to travel over distance without breaking up like a Hardlight projectile would," Ethan said. "Hm. Unless this one doesn't have the wiring to actually cut through anything."

"Checking," Maria reported. "Oh. It needs better wiring too."

"Figures," Ethan sighed. "Alright. Back to the drawing board."

He slipped the blade under his mattress and decided to head to the bridge and antagonize Del Rio for a bit while Maria tried to find a viable replacement for the sword's parts. As he was walking, he passed the training area, seeing the two Spartans he had gone to the factory with sparring with pugil sticks at the moment. They were both good, but he was easily able to see openings he could exploit, as well as being able to predict their movements. As he always could. He sighed, shaking his head and continuing to walk. He hated being this way. He wanted to be human again. He wanted to be himself again. Not whatever it was Halsey had made him.

"Spartan Zero, come to the Command Center," Palmer's voice said over the PA system.

Ethan sped up to a quick jog and reached the COC in a few minutes, slowing to a stop beside Palmer, who was looking at a galaxy map. "What's up?"

"Listen for yourself," Palmer said, pulling up a signal they were receiving.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is UNSC F-F-G-two-zero-one, Forward Unto Dawn requesting immediate evac. Survivors aboard. Prioritization code: victor-zero-five-dash-three-dash-sierra-zero-one-one-seven."

"I don't believe it," Ethan said, staring at the display. "We found them?"

"It would seem so," Lasky nodded.

"Where's it coming from?" Ethan asked.

"The core of the Forerunner planet you gave us the coordinates to," Del Rio said.

"The what?" Ethan asked.

Palmer swiped a hand over the display and it zoomed in on a planet that looked to be made entirely of metal. "We've reached the coordinates, and they brought us here, to an unidentified Forerunner planet with a metal sphere around the entire thing."

"Wow," Ethan said. "That's...impressive."

"I'm glad you think so," Del Rio said. "Because you're going to be finding us a way inside that planet."

"Why me?" Ethan asked.

"Because you and that AI of yours are the only two, besides Cortana, that have ever been able to pull data easily from Forerunner technology," Del Rio said. "So get us inside of that-"

The ship shook suddenly as an orange wall of light swept through the room, every computer system it touched going to static. As it passed, Maria screamed inside of Ethan's head, and a spike of agony shot through Ethan's brain. He groaned, clutching at his head and staggering backward, a Marine catching him before he could fall, but a second after the light had passed, the pain was gone and he lowered his trembling hands, gasping for breath and eyes wide.

"What was that?" Lasky asked.

"Ethan!" Palmer said worriedly, helping him stand. "Are you alright?"

"I...yeah," Ethan said. "It was a...sensor scan. A ridiculously high intensity one. It...It hurt Maria."

"Looked like it gave you a good shock too," Lasky said. "You going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Ethan said.

Just then, the image of the planet began to change, an opening appearing in it.

"Roland, open the blinds," Ethan said.

"Sir?" Roland asked, appearing beside the planet.

"Do it," Lasky nodded.

The metal plates over the window slid up and they all stared at the planet as a glowing white hole appeared.

"Hey Captain, I found you a way in," Ethan said. "I'm good huh?"

Del Rio glared at him. "Shut up! Take us in!"

The ship began to move forward but Ethan had a terrible feeling about it.

"Sarah, we need to armor up," Ethan said. "Now."

Sarah nodded and called for all Spartans and Marines to gear up. Then, the two of them ran to the armor bay, quickly climbing into one of the machines. The usual blonde technician that Ethan worked with walked over, nodding to him.

"The magnets are all set," she said. "You're officially a walking armory. And the paint job's done."

"I want a different helmet," Ethan said as the rest of his armor was being put on.

"A little heads up would be nice," the technician smirked. "Anything specific?"

"Grenadier," Ethan said.

The technician nodded and walked away, bringing back a black grenadier-class helmet with a black visor and handing it to him. He pulled it on just in time for the next sensor scan to pass through. The suit, however, dampened it somewhat, so instead of a stab of crippling pain, it was only moderately agonizing. He swallowed hard after the pain had passed and unlocked his armor, stumbling, only for Palmer to catch him.

"Are you alright?" Palmer asked.

"Yeah," Ethan lied. "Thanks Sarah."

Palmer nodded and they turned and started back toward the bridge, both stopping by Ethan's room on the way for his Hardlight sword.

* * *

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	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

* * *

Grounded

Ethan hated this world already. They had been caught in a gravity well, and were sucked inside. Then, whatever had scanned the ship took control of it and was bringing them down.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday!" Lasky shouted into the radio. "This is UNSC Infinity! An unknown entity has taken control of our ship and we are on a collision course with an unidentified Forerunner planet!"

"Brace!" Ethan shouted as the ground began to rush up to meet them, however the ship began to slow.

Finally, it settled in a forest, the only damage being from the gravity well overloading the ship's systems in their attempt to get out of it. Ethan sighed. That was a bit disappointing a crash, even though he was happy they could theoretically leave if they found a way to turn off the gravity well.

"Where the hell are we?" Del Rio asked.

"Some Forerunner planet," Ethan said. "God only knows which."

"We need to conduct recon," Palmer said. "Find out what's around us." She turned to Ethan, who still felt weak from the scans, and lowered her voice. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine in a bit," Ethan said. "My brain just needs a little bit to finish rebooting properly."

Palmer nodded.

"Lasky, Palmer," Del Rio said after the sailors around them finished reporting on the ship's status. "Take a pelican and go recon the area. And take that thing with you." He pointed at Ethan.

"Try not to pilot the ship into anymore Forerunner traps while we're out, alright Del Rio?" Ethan asked, walking out of the room, with Palmer, who gave him a knowing look. "Oh relax. He has bigger things to worry about than yelling at me. Or you."

Palmer sighed. "You're lucky I like you."

"Aw," Ethan grinned. "I like you too, Babe."

Palmer shook her head. "When are we going to stop playing this game?"

"What game?" Ethan asked.

"The game where you pretend to be attracted to me, and we pretend to flirt with each other," Palmer said.

"Do you _want_ to stop playing?" Ethan asked, staring at the helmet in his hands.

Palmer's silent for a moment before nodding. "Yes. I don't want to play anymore games."

"Aye aye Commander," Ethan said, pulling on his helmet to hide his face. "I'm going to branch off during the recon, and go radio silent. I'll check in after the first hour."

"Are you okay?" Palmer asked, brow furrowing. "You're never this...professional. Even during a mission."

"I'm fine, Commander," Ethan said. "Like you said, it's time we stopped playing games."

"I...I guess so," Palmer said as Ethan walked past her, out of the Pelican.

Ethan picked up an assault rifle and a DMR, then climbed into the back of the Pelican, sitting in silence.

"You're awful quiet," Lasky said. "What happened?"

"Nothing, Sir," Ethan said.

"Sir?" Lasky asked. "When the hell did you start calling me Sir?"

Ethan didn't answer, simply staring straight ahead. After a moment, Lasky sighed as more Spartans and a couple officers and Marines boarded the Pelican. The bay door opened and they flew out of the Infinity. However, within a few minutes, the Pelican suddenly jerked violently as something exploded against it and a red light began to flash as an alarm sounded.

"We're going down!" the pilot shouted.

Ethan remained still, right hand reaching up over himself to a metal bar and clamping down. A moment later, the Pelican slammed into something and spun, impacting with something else before finally hitting the ground and plowing to a stop. Ethan stood, walking past the others and out of the Pelican, looking around at the gigantic trees around them. Some of the exposed roots were as big around as their Pelican, the actual trees were as big around as the Pelican was long. He took a breath, turning his head slightly and glancing back at Palmer, who was checking on the pilot, who was definitely dead. He sighed, turning back to the front and took off at a fast jog, assault rifle raised and ready as he ran through the trees, using the roots and trees to travel when needed. After a few minutes, he slowed to a stop in a clearing and looked around. Empty. Quite. Private. Good enough.

He pulled his helmet off and set it on the ground before shouting in rage and drilling his fist into a tree, doing nothing. He shouted again and again, punching the tree over and over. Finally, he sighed and let his arm fall, staring at it. Undamaged still, though so was the tree, despite the arm's insane amount of force. He'd dented metal before from doing exactly what he had done to the tree. It was an impressive tree. He picked up his helmet and pulled it on just as his motion tracker suddenly lit up with hostile contacts.

He spun, raising his rifle just as blue portals opened, roughly the size of buildings, then vanished, leaving dozens of machines behind, all of them canine in shape and size, with heads that opened like flowers, by the looks of them, and all of the machines glowing with a bright orange light. "What the hell are these?"

"They're some kind of Forerunner machines," Maria said.

Just then, one of the robots head flapped its metal petals and a ball of glowing orange Hardlight streaked through the air at him, barely missing. He shouted in surprise and fear and dove to the side. And just like that, the machines were off, all of them firing at him. He bobbed and weaved as he fired back with his assault rifle, quickly learning several things about the machines, beyond being hostile. Firstly, there were two types. Basic ones, which were sleek in design and fired in semi-auto, and a slightly more aggressive and dangerous variant that fired in full-auto and had glowing orange spikes on its back and head. Secondly, he learned that when they were destroyed and fell apart, they dropped whatever weapon they were firing, which was an actual gun. And thirdly, shooting them in the face only took a single shot to destroy them.

With that in mind, he switched to his DMR, calmed himself, and went to work, moving through the clearing quickly, combat gliding between the canine's shots and dropping them rapidly with a single shot each. A shot slammed into his shields and dropped it almost completely, but the shield held. He spun, destroying that robot, and two more before turning and drilling his right fist into the last one's face. It fell apart and he caught the rifle it dropped. It was about the size of his assault rifle, and had a huge ring handle with a trigger, then was a sort of point, ending at about two inches tall at the muzzle. He Tested it, finding there was very little actual kick, and that the Hardlight projectiles were less accurate than his assault rifle's bullets. However, it _was_ a functional Hardlight weapon, so he stuck it to his left thigh and began to collect more. Along with the rifle, there were also Hardlight pistols scattered around, so he collected some of those too. As he was picking up the last rifle, his thumb pressed a switch and a black section on top of the otherwise white weapon popped up, a small black and orange cylinder flying into the air.

"That's the ammo's power source," Maria said.

Ethan caught it and dropped all but two pistols and two rifles, taking the rest of the power cells, along with a few more he found scattered around the clearing. Then, he turned and continued through the jungle. As he was walking, a signal began to register and Maria strengthened it for him.

"This is Commander Lasky, we're up to our necks in enemies!" Lasky was saying.

Ethan swore, turning to the waypoint Maria had already placed on them.

"This is Sierra-one-one-seven of the Forward Unto Dawn," a second transmission said in a deep, gruff voice, Ethan freezing instantly. "I am on station to assist. Send me your location."

"Negative copy, Lasky said. "Sounded like you said Forward Unto Dawn?"

"Maria, send their location to the Master Chief for them," Ethan said, running toward them.

"Already done," Maria said.

As Ethan ran, more and more of the robot dogs appeared and attacked him, only for him to use one of the Hardlight assault rifles to destroy them, noticing that the projectiles would curve through the air to destroy the dogs if they moved, however, when he tested the pistols, the projectiles didn't track the dogs. He switched back to his DMR and made short work of any of the robots he met. Then, as a Forerunner facility where Maria had the waypoint came into view, a pair of massive robots appeared in front of him, both of them with a massive upper body shaped sort of like an ancient human stereotype of a flying saucer but with a sort-of humanoid body growing out of the bottom from about the shoulders down. It had a pair of arms, the right one being another kind of Hardlight gun from the elbow down, and the left being a Hardlight blade with a segmented projector, and the blade shaped somewhat like the front half of an energy sword, but made out of orange Hardlight.

"What a perfect opportunity," Ethan smirked. "Light up the parts we'll need, Maria."

Maria highlighted several pieces of the robots as Ethan sprinted forward. One was a round object somewhere inside of the robots, one was the sword, and one was the rifle. The robot on the left raised its rifle and fired a there-round burst that Ethan slid under, barely, but they grazed his shield and took them down completely. He slid to his feet and punched his fist through the robot's head, grabbing the round object and ripping it out. However, the moment he did, the rest of the body began to dissolve into orange light and fade from the face outward. He snatched the blade arm and ripped it off before it could dissolve and the segments fell apart, dropping to the grass, but not fading. He dropped the piece in his hand on the pile and turned to the other just as several Hardlight projectiles slammed into it, a shield of its own flaring, one which Ethan had simply punched straight through on his, before shattering, the next shot smashing its helmet. A glowing, orange, Hardlight, human skull appeared where the head was and roared at whoever was shooting it, but another shot punched into the skull and the robot dissolved, leaving its rifle behind, as Ethan's had. Along with the rifles were a total of four cubes with orange lines over them and small spikes on their corners.

"What are these?" Ethan asked, picking one up.

"I'm not sure," Maria said.

"They're grenades," the same gruff voice said from beside him as the Master Chief himself walked over, one of the rifles the two robots had just dropped in his hand. "They form a Hardlight sphere that incinerates anything inside, then explodes into a pulse to throw anything nearby away."

"Impressive," Ethan said, sticking two of them to his belt, then picking up the rifles and sticking them to his shoulders. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Chief."

"Where's Lasky?" Master Chief asked.

"In here," Ethan said, turning and walking up to the Forerunner facility and grabbing some spare DMR bullets from the abandoned ammo cases outside the door.

As he reached the door, it rose, three Spartans walking out of it quickly before Palmer followed, hugging Ethan instantly.

"Are you alright?" Palmer asked, looking him over, noticing the new weapons.

"Better than alright," he grinned widely. "I finally found the perfect pieces for my weapons."

Palmer blinked, then laughed, shaking her head. "I don't know why I thought you'd be anything other than a kid on Christmas over this." She looked to where Master Chief was talking with Lasky. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Yup," Ethan said. "In the flesh and armor. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a weapon to illegally modify."

He sat down, beginning to disassemble the his assault rifle as Maria scanned the robots' weapons. Once his assault rifle was broken down, he started on the burst rifles he had gotten most recently. Then the other rifle, then the pistol. Maria began to quickly run diagnostics on everything, as well as the projector segments he had grabbed and brought to fix his own Hardlight sword.

"Done," Maria said. "Putting the schematics up now."

"What are you doing?" Master Chief asked as Ethan quickly swapped out pieces and parts, finding that the pieces actually fit the assault rifle surprisingly well and easily.

"I'm making my assault rifle a Hardlight rifle," Ethan said. "Then I'm going to turn this energy sword into a Hardlight sword."

"You know how?" Master Chief asked.

"Yup," Ethan grinned, placing two power cells according to Maria's instructions, and connecting them so that they would continuously recharge each other and the excess power was syphoned off into the ammo, making it essentially a bottomless clip. "Want one?"

"After we save the Infinity, if there's time," Master Chief said. "Captain Del Rio has ordered all ground troops back to the Infinity. It's under attack by Prometheans, the Forerunner robots you got those guns from."

"Okay," Ethan said, finishing reassembling his Assault Rifle, the display lighting up orange. "Done."

"That was fast," Palmer said. "It's not a bomb, right?"

"Not this time," Ethan smiled. "This time I had legitimate parts."

"You've done this before?" Master Chief asked.

"I've tried," Ethan said, taking the projector off of his Hardlight sword and connecting the Promethean's Hardlight blade's base to the energy sword handle, between the fingers. "Didn't work before."

The base was designed to pull the others to it like a magnet when activated, then the blade would form. Additionally, the projectors each had a small power cell inside of them, and each generated their own section of the blade under their own power, allowing it to be more than strong enough to be used without breaking. When he activated the sword, the other pieces shot up into place and the blade flashed into existence, shaped like a filled in energy sword's blade, as before. He nodded approvingly and held the sword close to his chest before deactivating it, the pieces instead sticking to a magnet on his chest.

"Alright," Ethan said. "Shall we?"

"You work fast," Master Chief said, just finishing loading his mags back up. "What about your DMR?"

"I'll probably upgrade it later," Ethan said. "For now, we have some Marines to save, right?"

Master Chief nodded and they turned to leave, Ethan picking his helmet up off the ground, only for Palmer to catch Ethan's hand.

"Please be careful," Palmer said, kissing him on the cheek.

Ethan nodded, pulling his helmet on and turned, following Master Chief out of the building facility. They ran through the jungle quickly and the canine robots, which Master Chief identified as crawlers, began to appear and attack instantly, Ethan and Master Chief quickly dropping them. Within a few shots, Ethan had already decided that he liked his new gun. The projectiles, unlike the large relatively slow ones the Prometheans fired, were only slightly slower than bullets, maybe around the speed of a tracer, which you could watch fly, and were still shaped like a bullet, so they penetrated more than the Prometheans' projectiles. However, one downside he found quickly, was that he ad to fire short bursts, and slowly, because his barrel wasn't able to handle firing Hardlight projectiles without melting.

After a couple of minutes, they passed a group of Marines struggling to defend themselves and quickly wiped out the crawlers attacking them. A couple minutes later, they found another facility with sandbag bunkers, two machinegun turrets set up, and no one manning it. Two of the larger robots, which Master Chief identified as Promethean Knights, appeared to attack them, but both raised a DMR and opened fire. After three shots, the knights' shields shattered, and two headshots later, both disintegrated. Both began to mop up the rest of the crawlers as Cortana's face appeared in a small bow in the upper left corner of Ethan's visor.

"You're good," Cortana said. "What generation of Spartan are they on?"

"Four," Ethan said. "And thank you."

"Where'd you learn to make Hardlight weapons?" Cortana asked.

"Maria found it in the Forerunner version of the internet," Ethan said, dropping a pair of crawlers as they were leaping through the air.

"Maria?" Cortana asked.

"That's me," Maria said, appearing in another box below Cortana's.

"But, I didn't sense a-"

"You're blocking my vision!" Ethan snapped as several shots from his left side punched into his shields, fortunately only Hardlight pistol rounds and not breaking through.

"Sorry!" both AIs said, their boxes disappearing.

Ethan returned to shooting and within a few seconds, the two of them had finished. The Marines they had saved quickly took up positions in front of the facility, Ethan manning the turret on the right as Master Chief headed for a small pillar beside the door where he could plug Cortana's AI chip in.

"Accessing the door," Maria reported, a small red sphere appearing over the pillar.

"From all the way over there?" Cortana asked. "What the hell? What kind of hardware do you have in that suit?"

"You have no idea," Ethan grumbled. "Chief, mind hopping on that other gun?"

"Right," Master Chief nodded, stepping up to the other turret just as knights and crawlers began to swarm out of the trees.

Both guns roared to life, their bullets ripping through crawlers effortlessly, and breaking through the knights' shields in under a second each, allowing Ethan and Master Chief to lay waste to the Prometheans easily. The Marines all cheered as they watched, and after about a minute and a half, their guns finished the last knight just as the door opened and the red sphere vanished from the pillar as Maria returned to Ethan. Both enhanced soldiers left their turrets and headed through the door, They followed a tunnel formed by both stone and tree roots before reaching a clear area that was meant to be their LZ. There were both knights and some of Jul 'Mdama's covenant present, and the two began to rip all of their enemies apart. The Covenant forces was comprised of only a handful of grunts and a couple jackals with shields, so they all died easily, but the best part was that there was a grand total of four knights. Just as the last knight disintegrated, Ethan picked up a shoulder-fired railgun and tossed a second to Master Chief. Both took a knee, and a moment later, a Phantom flew down into view, only for the two of them to shoot the stabilizers in the front to either side of the Phantom's nose. The ship lost control instantly, flipping forward and plummeting to the ground, exploding.

"God I love big guns," Ethan smiled.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday!" Del Rio's voice suddenly shouted over their radios. "Hostile forces are attempting to breach the Command Center! They're at the hatch!"

"Dammit!" Lasky swore. "I'm ordering all SPARTAN-IVs, and Ethan, to head to rally point Alpha Sierra Foxtrot!"

"'and Ethan?'" Cortana asked. "Are you not a Spartan?"

"Chief, mind giving them a hand clearing out the Infinity?" Lasky asked.

"Roger," Master Chief said.

"Good," Lasky said. "I'm sending in a Pelican now."

The pelican landed and they lifted off, heading for the Infinity quickly.

"What are you?" Cortana asked Ethan as they flew.

"I'm Halsey's most recent toy," Ethan said.

After a few minutes, the Pelican landed and opened and they sprinted out of it, finding Covenant and Prometheans heading for the Infinity, and Spartans heading for the Covenant and Prometheans. Ethan pulled out his Assault Rifle and sprinted to the side, away from the Spartans, then opened fire, his Hardlight rounds punching through Covenant rapidly, even the Elites spread around, their shields not holding up against his Hardlight rounds any better than Ethan's had against the Prometheans'. The Spartans all opened fire a moment later and Ethan shifted his fire to the Prometheans, and a few moments later, they had cleared the area. Ethan smiled. It was amazing what a handful of Spartans could do when they worked together. He looked around and saw a Scorpion tank and grinned widely, sprinting to it and leaping onto it, dropping into it. Maria hacked herself into it instantly and started it up and he grinned.

"Hold on," she said as he prepared to start moving. "The Spartans are climbing on. Gunner. Two. Three. Okay, we're full."

He nodded and started driving, Maria turning his visor into a view of the outside so that he didn't have to rely on the tiny screen in front of himself while they rolled through the canyon they were in virtually unchallenged.

* * *

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	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

* * *

Clearing A Path

Ethan watched on the screen as Master Chief, in his Mantis mech suit, slaughtered the covenant on the upper hull, blowing up some of the Phantoms that flew down to offload troops. Then, finally, Roland had control of the MAC guns again and began to fire at the black sphere that had been scanning their ship and coming through their ship's data. However, it was too late. Ethan knew that the orb, and the apparent surviving Forerunner criminal called the Didact, inside of it had found its prize. The artifact that had led them here. Apparently called the Composer. According to Cortana, who had been talking with Maria the entire time Master Chief had been fighting, the Composer was some kind of Forerunner weapon which would turn organic beings into data, which was how the Prometheans came to be, having been made out of ancient humans who once rivalled the Forerunners before the Halo rings fired. Ethan was drawn out of his thoughts by Captain Del Rio calling for a damage assessment, Ethan seeing the orb had left.

"We did it," Palmer said. "Or, more accurately, you and the Master Chief did it."

"I only helped get back to the ship," Ethan said. "Chief did all the hard work."

"You rescued me and Lasky," Palmer said.

"Again, Chief did most of the hard work," Ethan said.

"Don't sell yourself short," Master Chief said, walking into the room. "You're an excellent soldier. And you're one of the most skilled fighters I've ever seen. However, since you're not a Spartan, I want to know what you are."

"He's a freak," Del Rio said. "Commander Palmer, what's the status of Gypsy Company?"

"Checking now, sir," Palmer said, looking at a tablet. "They're ready to move on your command." She handed him the tablet.

"Sir?" Master Chief asked.

"This is a first contact scenario, Master Chief," Del Rio said. "Priority is to free the Infinity from Requiem's gravity well and file a threat assessment back at FLEETCOM."

"Captain, that's a coward's way of saying we're running away, and you know it," Ethan said.

"You shut the fuck up before I have to court-martialed!" Del Rio snapped instantly.

"I would _love_ to see you try that," Ethan challenged.

"Sir, the ship's weapons drove him off, he's vulnerable," Master Chief said.

"He isn't the only one," Del Rio snarled, then turned to walk away, only to pause, looking back at Master Chief. "You know, I'd think you, of all people, would appreciate living to fight another day." Then, he walked away.

Chief and Cortana gave each other a knowing look.

"Don't mind him," Ethan said. "He grows on you."

"Really?" Cortana asked.

"No, not really, he's pretty much the most aggravating thing alive since the Prophet of Truth," Ethan said.

"Great," Master Chief sighed. "So, I assume we're going with Gypsy company?"

"We'd appreciate it, but it's your choice," Palmer said. "Ethan, would you mind?"

"It'd be my pleasure to blow some shit up for, babe," Ethan smirked. "But while we're on the way, I'm going to go swap out my rifle's barrel so I can fire it at a normal rate of fire. Probably upgrade my DMR too."

"You mind making me a special assault rifle too?" Palmer asked.

"Sure," Ethan said. "You want one Chief?"

"Sure," Master Chief said.

"Any preference on weapon?" Ethan asked.

"Assault rifle's fine," Master Chief.

Ethan nodded and left the command center to the armory, grabbing two more assault rifles and heading to his room, beginning to use the four Hardlight weapons he had brought back as souvenirs to upgrade the rifles. Once he was finished with the actual firing mechanisms, and the power supplies, he removed the barrels of all three and compared then to the Promethean weapons. The Prometheans didn't use barrels. They had particle accelerators.

"How do we work this?" Ethan thought out loud.

He compared the size of the particle accelerators to the assault rifle's barrels. The barrels were smaller. By a lot. And switching to the particle accelerators would make the projectiles more rounded blasts than bullet-shaped projectiles, like the Prometheans fired.

"Run energy through the barrels to shield them," Maria said. "You just need another power cell."

"Show me," Ethan said.

She showed him how to jury rig the power cell into a makeshift shielding unit that would protect the barrel from heating up and melting while firing, and after about thirty minutes, he had all three rifles reassembled and finished. He walked to the command center and gave Palmer hers.

"Is that an illegally modified rifle?" Del Rio snarled.

"Not at all," Ethan said. "I just cleaned it for her, and since we're on a hostile planet, we decided it was wisest to keep them on us." He turned to Palmer. "Where's the Chief?"

"He headed to the armory," Palmer said. "Can you pick up my personal DMR for me while you're there?"

"Sure," Ethan nodded. "Back in a few minutes."

"Don't bother," Del Rio said. "Palmer will be accompanying you on the Mammoth."

"Sir," Palmer said, standing at attention.

"Dope," Ethan grinned. "Shooting contest."

Palmer smiled as well and they headed down to the armory, Ethan handing Master Chief his new rifle, before setting his own DMR down and quickly using the extra parts he had brought, attached to his armor's legs, to augment it as well.

"We're taking a Mammoth," Ethan said. "It's like the Elephant's successor."

Master Chief nodded. "You never told me what you are."

"Ask me again after we kill the Didact," Ethan said.

Master Chief nodded. After a few minutes, they all loaded up into the Mammoth and rolled out of the Infinity, heading along the road toward where there were several AA guns keeping the Infinity from even approaching the gravity well, since its shields were still down, and the guns would blast right through anyway. Ethan waited for the green light in the COC portion with Palmer and Lasky. Lasky was holding his dog tags, which had a piece of broken hunter armor hanging from the tags chain as well.

"Nervous Lasky?" Chief asked.

"Well, I don't have a shield generator to keep me alive," Lasky said.

"Touché," Ethan nodded.

Just then, Del Rio called for their mission briefing. "Infinity to Gypsy Company. The air corridor to the gravity well is blocked by a network of particle cannons. Infinity's shields are still down. Open the lanes for us to move up and provide air support."

"Sir, what's recon's assessment of the terrain?" Master Chief asked.

"I know you've been off the field for a while, Master Chief, but this is a blow-through op," Del Rio said. "Sending in recon would just slow us down." He turned back to the rest of Gypsy Company. "Telemetry indicates the particle cannons are being controlled southwest of our position. Roll on that target and neutralize those guns. We'll meet on the other side and take the gravity well." He looked back at Master Chief for a moment, as though challenging him. "Infinity out."

"Okay, since he's outlawed recon, let me give you all some," I say. "Sarah, the map, if you would."

Palmer brought up a map of the area.

"Maria, highlight all enemy positions in range," Ethan said.

Red dots began to appear over the map between them and the Forerunner facility Master Chief would be heading into. More and more dots began to appear and several of the Spartans groaned.

"Fuck me!" one of them scoffed. "This is why we do recon first."

"How are you tracking them all?" Master Chief asked.

"Maria's using the Mammoth's ex-orbital radio as a range booster," Ethan said. "Looks like a full battalion. Expect drop pods, Phantoms, Banshees, and the usual Covenant goodies. Highlight Wraiths."

Six of the red dots expanded.

"Ghosts."

Twenty dots.

"And for anyone who doesn't have a good view, there's a distinct lack of natural cover, so we'll be relying on those purple barriers and pods the Covenant just leaves lying everywhere they go," Ethan said. "Should be fun. Steal a ghost if you can safely. Otherwise, leave the wraiths alone. And if there's a functional ghost that you can't steal, make sure the Covenant can't use it either."

"What do we do about the wraiths if we can't get a ghost?" one of the Spartans asked.

"Simple," Ethan said. "Master Chief or I will take it down ourselves."

The Spartans looked around at each other before nodding.

"We're almost there," Lasky reported.

Palmer let the map close and the Spartans turned to leave. Ethan picked up his assault helmet and turned to Palmer.

"Don't suppose I can get a kiss for luck," Ethan smirked.

Palmer narrowed her eyes before taking the helmet, kissing the front of it, then putting it on him. "There you go. Now go shoot some Covies, smartass."

Ethan chuckled, picking up his assault rifle. "See you later."

He grabbed a jump pack off of the wall, attaching it to his back before jumping off of the mammoth with Master Chief. They ran to a warthog, Ethan jumping in the driver's seat and Master Chief taking the gun. Then, they sped off. They floored it around the first corner as several pelicans tasked with targeting the AA guns were shot down, two simply becoming fireballs.

"Spartan Zero, that pelican had the target designator," Palmer said.

"Roger, I copy," Ethan responded, then power slid around a corner, flattening several grunts against a cliff. They stopped as several Jackals in front of them held their shields up and an Elite behind them pulled out a plasma grenade.

"Don't waste your ammo," Ethan smirked, waving pleasantly at the Elite. "You got me?"

"I've got you," Palmer said, just as a beam rifle shot punched through the Elite's head and the primed grenade fell to the ground, rolling toward the jackals.

"Was that a beam rifle?" Master Chief asked.

"I upgraded her DMR to one a while ago," Ethan said, just before the grenade exploded and a jackal crashed down on the hood in a splatter of purple blood before sliding back down to the ground. "Now, where were we?"

He floored it again and they sped forward, Master Chief returning to firing at anything that moved. They sped toward the pelican for several seconds before Ethan slammed on the brakes, skidding around and slamming the back end of the pelican into an Elite and launching off a nearby cliff. He jumped out, running to a target designator laying on the ground and grabbed it, running back to the warthog and climbing in before pointing the designator's laser at the gigantic particle cannon AA gun in the distance. A moment later, the Mammoth's mini-MAC fired, destroying the gun. Ethan grinned, flooring it and speeding back to the road and around to the back of the Mammoth, where they had one of the bay doors lowered for them. He drove in and stopped, sitting back and taking off his helmet.

"You're awfully calm about being in a combat situation," Master Chief noted.

"I'm not afraid to die, as long as there's a purpose behind it," Ethan said. "Come on. We should take the rocket turrets upstairs."

"Right," Master Chief nodded. "I'll take the left side."

Ethan nodded and they headed upstairs. As they drove along, they blasted any Covenant in their way, and after a few minutes, they slowed to a stop as they found three small dome barriers protecting generators for a massive barrier wall that was blocking progress. Ethan grinned. Showtime.

They both jumped off of the ship, heading for separate generators. Ethan drew his assault rifle, finally, and opened fire on a pair of Elites that were moving to stop him. Both roared in pain and surprise as their shields were shredded and their bodies right along with it. As they fell, Ethan stepped into the dome barrier and shot a pair of grunts before grabbing a plasma grenade off of one of them and hurling it onto the generator, then backing out of the dome barrier again. The grenade exploded and the dome barrier faded, the barrier wall darkening, then again as Master Chief's exploded. Ethan grinned and looked to the Mammoth as a Phantom was passing over it and an Elite dropped onto it behind Palmer, who was acting as their guardian angel with her DMR.

"Sarah, behind you!" Ethan shouted.

She rolled as the Elite reached her, raising its energy sword, only for her DMR to go off, punching straight through his chest. He staggered backward just as Lasky stepped into view, spraying it with an assault rifle. It staggered away, but the enhanced DMR had taken its shield down, and within seconds it was dead.

"Thanks," Palmer said, returning to overwatch. "Wraith."

Ethan spun, seeing the gunner swing its turret around at him, only for Palmer to put a beam between its eyes, blasting its entire head into paste. He sprinted forward and jumped as the Wraith boosted toward him. He slowed himself with his jetpack and landed against the front safely, ripping a panel off and shoving a frag grenade shoulder-deep into the tank's nose before jumping and flying away with his jetpack, watching the wraith explode. Just then, a pair of ghosts jumped off of the cliffs to either side of him, heading straight for him, only for a one-twenty millimeter rocket to hit one, and six smaller rockets to blast the other from the turret, both ghosts exploding and flying away from him.

"We've got you Zero," one of the other Spartans said, just as the last generator exploded as Master Chief hurled an Elite into it.

The barrier wall faded and Ethan pulled out his DMR, beginning to pick off the last of the grunts and jackals around himself as Master Chief ran over, climbing onto the Mammoth. Ethan used his jetpack and landed on top of it, shooting the last grunt before the Mammoth continued to roll. After a few minutes, they rounded a corner and Ethan marked the next AA gun, the Mammoth blasting it. However, as soon as it did, a Covenant ship that looked like a spikier, longer Phantom flew around the corner of the cliff before them and blasted the Mammoth's mini-Mac. The vehicle didn't explode, but it was extensively damaged. Ethan swore. The Mammoth was finished.

He looked around, seeing the ship stop over a hill nearby, activating a gravity lift and dropping multiple Covenant troops to reinforce the already several dozen around the hill. Ethan narrowed his eyes. "I'll destroy the ship. You guys thin the crowd."

"Roger," one of the Spartans nodded, firing his turret rapidly. Palmer quickly picked off any jackal snipers in the area, and Master Chief joined her, using a battle rifle to pick off anything he could get his sights on.

"Is your boyfriend going to be able to handle it?" Master Chief asked.

"He's not my boyfriend," Palmer said. "But yeah, he'll be just fine."

Ethan sprinted forward, leaping off the edge of the Mammoth and activating his jet pack for as long as he could. He landed on a grunt and punched it in the face, caving its face in, before grabbing his assault rifle and taking off, blasting anything near him. Multiple battle rifle bursts and energy beams flashed past him as he ran, helping clear his path, and rockets were exploding ahead of him quickly. Then, finally, he broke free of the Covenant, leaping and using his jetpack to clear the hill as he put his assault rifle in the slot in the jet pack, then grabbed his Hardlight sword, activating it and assembling the projector, the light blade forming just as he entered the gravity lift, streaking upward.

He landed on his feet in front of a semicircle of grunts and slashed a wide arc, splitting all of their heads open before vaulting over one before it could fall and kicking another into one manning a plasma turret that was firing at the Mammoth. Both grunts, and the turret, fell off the ship and he turned, grabbing a plasma pistol off the floor and shooting the grunt manning the other plasma turret, killing it and knocking it off the edge. He tossed the plasma pistol aside just before diving aside, barely escaping a slash from an Elite's energy sword. He rolled to his feet and smirked, raising his own. The Elite roared, charging and slashed downward at him, only for him to sweep it aside and slash back up the other way, splitting the Elite's torso in half. Then, he ran through the ship to the core. It was like a Scarab tank's core, a circular plasma shield in front of the actual core, but when he drove his Hardlight sword into it the shield didn't matter. The core unleashed a belch of blue and purple flames, a red light flashing, and he ripped the blade out, turning and sprinting to the opening at the side of the ship, leaping out toward the Mammoth as he deactivated his sword in front of his chest so that the segments were caught by his chest's magnets, then put the handle on his belt and activated his jetpack to slow his descent, landing lightly beside Palmer and drawing his assault rifle again.

"Piece of cake," he said, just as the ship exploded into a gigantic ball of plasma, incinerating the top of the hill and killing a dozen or so of the few remaining Covenant troops with its concussion and debris.

"Not bad," Master Chief said.

"Lasky, status report!" Del Rio demanded.

"The Mammoth's taken severe damage, but I think she can make it, as long as no one starts throwing rocks at us," Lasky said.

"Not a chance we can take," Del Rio said. "I'm sending teams out to pull some fire off you so you can make it to the gravity well."

"Roger that, sir," Lasky said. "Gypsy, let's move!"

"Shadow company, Castle company," Del Rio said. "Put some pressure on those particle cannons."

"Castle reading five-by-five," own of the two units comms man reported. "On station, ready to assist."

"Shadow actual to Infinity, encountering enemy air!" the other responded. "Significant E-O-F closer to the emplacements!"

"Chief, when we get there, I'll stay out here and help cover the infinity," Ethan said. "Can you handle being inside on your own?"

"I'll be fine," Master Chief said. "Just keep the engine running."

"Will do," Ethan nodded.

"I'm detecting a distorted signal," Maria said, appearing in a small screen on the inside of Ethan's visor. "It's...It's Cortana. She's...she's entering Rampancy."

Ethan fell silent, looking at the Master Chief, who had walked away, muttering, apparently talking to Cortana. "He's running out of time."

"Who?" Palmer asked.

"The Didact," Ethan lied. "Once this gravity well's disabled, we can get off the planet and bomb him from orbit."

"You know the captain would never agree to that," Palmer said.

"True," Ethan sighed.

"One-one-seven, Spartan Zero," Lasky said over the radio.

"Go Commander," Master Chief said.

"Significant blockage up ahead, I think this is it for the Mammoth," Lasky said.

Ethan looked to the front, seeing a line of huge boulders up ahead, too big for the Mammoth to drive over, even if it _wasn't_ about ready to blow. He sighed. The last stretch from the ship to here had been blessedly free of Covenant, but as he looked at the boulders, Maria confirmed that the remaining half of the Covenant force they had seen were waiting, preparing themselves for a dismounted assault.

"Now what?" Ethan asked.

"I'll go alone from here," Master Chief said, dropping off the Mammoth.

"Dammit," Ethan sighed. "Wait up, Chief. I'm coming with you." He sprinted forward and dropped off the Mammoth, slowing himself with his jet pack and landing lightly beside Master Chief, pulling out his assault rifle.

"I can't cover you from here," Palmer warned him.

"We'll manage," Master Chief said. "Ready?"

"Ready," Ethan nodded.

Master Chief shouldered his own assault rifle and the pair of them began forward, moving just below a run and keeping themselves ready for anything.

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	7. Chapter 7

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

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Access Denied

Ethan sprinted across the ground, dodging past two energy beams, then ducking into cover behind a boulder. A grunt stepped around it to his left, but ended up directly in front of his rifle, and he dropped it instantly. After a moment, an energy beam hit beside Master Chief, who had been covering for him, and Ethan turned, leaning out of cover and firing careful burst, dropping the three sniper jackals posted on the facility. Originally, it had been close to twenty, but he and Master Chief had spent a good fifteen minutes getting yelled at by Del Rio for being slow as they struggled to pick off the snipers using Ethan's DMR and Master Chief's borrowed Covenant carbine.

"Clear, go!" Ethan shouted.

Both stood, starting forward again, and as they ran, grunts, shield jackals, and Elites moved to try to stop them, only to die in a hail of Hardlight bullets. They advanced rapidly, and the Covenant quickly began to fall back toward the facility, not having been prepared for an assault by both Master Chief and Ethan, both of them armed with Hardlight rifles. Ethan sprinted up a ramp off to his right, reaching the top and kicking a grunt, sending it flying into a jackal, both falling the ground where he shot them as he passed before turning the corner and shooting an Elite in the face with a quick burst, killing it. Then, he dropped behind a bullet proof glass wall on the side facing the front and swapped his assault rifle for his DMR before stepping out and beginning to pick off the jackals, allowing Master Chief to drop the grunts, since they were no real threat to him. The jackals weren't really either, but they _were_ annoying, so he cleared them out for him. Just as he dropped the last jackal, Prometheans began to appear, all of them spraying at Master Chief, forcing him into cover and effectively halting his progress. Ethan began to snipe at them, each knight taking between three and six rounds, depending on his aim, and each crawler taking one to two. After a moment, once he had gotten the majority of the fire off of Master Chief, Master Chief went to work as well, combat gliding forward and using his assault rifle to drop the crawlers, since there were dozens of them appearing, and left the half-dozen knights for Ethan.

"Maria, mark all hostiles," Ethan said.

"Marking," Maria reported.

A red waypoint appeared over each and he nodded. As he had suspected, there were two hidden up by the door, waiting for Master Chief.

"Chief, two behind the pillars at the top of the next ramp," Ethan said, dropping a spiked crawler as it moved to attack him from behind, then a crawler sniper, one that could hit targets from about the same range as the average Jackal sniper, as it was aiming at Master chief.

"Copy," Master Chief responded, hurling a plasma grenade behind one.

The knight ran out from behind the pillar to avoid the explosion, but Ethan rapidly fired a half dozen rounds, killing it and watching it disintegrate. The other knight charged out, sprinting at Master Chief, but he began to spray it with his assault rifle, shattering its shield before it reached him, and just as it raised its Hardlight blade, Ethan shot it in the face, finishing it. Ethan backed up, then sprinted forward and jumped, landing at a sprint and catching up to Master Chief just as they entered the facility.

"Cortana to Infinity, we are entering the Forerunner structure," Cortana reported.

The signal back was broken and static-covered.

"Privacy at last," Ethan smirked.

"I feel lonely already," Maria joked.

"Focus you two," Master Chief said. "There are probably Prometheans here."

"I would expect so," Ethan agreed. "We're focused. Don't you worry about that."

They stepped into a large, rectangular room, following Cortana's directions toward the door across from them, only for a small blue drone with blue light glowing from it to fly down and seal the door, then turn, flying to the one at the end of the room to their left.

"Is it trying to lead us somewhere?" Ethan asked.

"Probably," Master Chief said, following it calmly.

"This happen to you a lot?" Ethan asked.

"More than we'd like," Cortana said, just before her signal distorted. "That ungrateful little can opener! We finally fire a Halo ring after all that time and he goes crazy and kills Johnson!" Her signal returned to normal. "Sorry."

"Where do you suppose it's taking us?" Ethan asked to change the subject, pretending as though her outburst had never happened.

"Hopefully to the control room," Master Chief said.

The sentinel opened the two doors ahead of them, revealing an elevator, then turned to watch them as they walked onto it.

"This elevator should take us directly to the coordinates the Infinity provided us," Cortana said. "Almost like those Sentinels _wanted_ us to get the particle cannons offline."

"This could be a trap," Master Chief said.

"You say that like there's a _second_ possibility?" Cortana more asked than said.

"Maybe they're secretly all sentient and they want to help us," Ethan said. "And there's a huge buffet waiting beside the controls."

"Hungry?" Master Chief asked.

"I haven't gotten to eat since we crashed yesterday," Ethan said.

"I haven't been able to eat since I woke up, two days ago," Master Chief said.

"Touché," Ethan said as the elevator slowed to a stop. "Shall we?"

Master Chief nodded and they followed the hallway they stepped out into along, Sentinels guiding them to whichever door they were supposed to take. After a few turns, they reached the controls, finding no buffet, but finding one of the small pillars Cortana could access the network from. Master Chief plugged her in, taking the chip back as Cortana worked, then reported that the guns should be down. However, as soon as she had, she gasped.

"There's someone in here!" Cortana reported. "Chief!" She vanished in a flash of blue light.

"Cortana?" Master Chief called out. "Cortana!"

Several sentinels flew down to circle them for a moment before turning and flying back the way they came. They followed and a light bridge activated off to one side. Master Chief began to jog and Ethan followed suit, a few paces behind him. However, as soon as Master Chief was on the bridge, it began to deactivate behind him, leaving Ethan behind.

"What the fuck?" Ethan asked.

"Head back outside," Master Chief said, once he was safely on the other side. "I'll meet you there."

Ethan nodded and turned, heading back toward the elevator, only to find the door sealed. He followed the hallway, but they were all sealed. He was trapped. What's going on? Maria?"

"I can't get into the system," Maria said. "Something's blocking me."

A sentinel flew down in front of him and created a hologram of a female Forerunner.

"What are you?" she asked.

"A guy that's trying to leave," Ethan said.

"You're not leaving," she said. "Not until I know what you are."

Ethan groaned. "My name is Ethan. I'm working with Master Chief."

"I detect no signs of life from you," she said. "This is the last time I ask before I show the Prometheans where you are. What are you?"

"Jesus!" Ethan groaned. "I'm a dead man! I was killed in a battle and through an experiment by a woman named Dr. Halsey, I was brought back to life as an android! I've got a fully robotic body inside of me, but since I lost my arm in an explosion, only that arm is exposed, so everyone thinks it's a prosthetic."

"And the construct trying to access the system?" she asked.

"It's a manifestation of some of my capabilities," Ethan said. "My body is that of a robot, with the physical abilities of a Spartan, what we call our genetically enhanced super soldiers. My mind, on the other hand, is the equivalent of an AI, a powerful one. However, I wasn't able to both function properly while also utilizing my AI abilities, so I created Maria, a sort of fragment of myself, to use my AI abilities for me."

The female looked at him interestedly, walking around him and seeming to inspect him. "When I wrote the plans for your species' evolution into your species' DNA, I have to admit, I never could have predicted you. You may even surpass what your kind had originally, and what the Forerunners were ever able to create. You're a fully functional digitized personality. You are what the composer was originally mean to create. What the Prometheans were meant to be. You would even be immune to the Composer. You would lose your flesh, but your synthetic body underneath would remain."

"Yeah, I'd rather not look any more like a freak than I already do," Ethan said. "I'll keep my body, thanks."

"Yes, I suppose that _would_ be rather be unpleasant," the female agreed. "You may leave. But you should hurry. The Prometheans are on their way."

Ethan nodded and one of the doors opened. He turned, running through the facility to the elevator, then rode it back up to the surface, quickly making his way out, only to stop, finding more than a dozen Promethean knights waiting, all aiming at him with something shaped vaguely like a fuel rod gun. "Shit."

"What's wrong?" Palmer asked. "Spartan Zero?"

Ethan swallowed hard, eyes sweeping across the knights. He wasn't going to win this. Not alone.

"Ethan!" Palmer said. "Talk to me!"

"Sarah," Ethan said, swallowing again. "I...I don't think I'm going to make it back to the Mammoth this time."

Palmer didn't respond and Ethan inhaled slowly. Then, he was moving. A dozen massive blasts of Hardlight with four more smaller ones around each shot past him, exploding behind him somewhere as he activated his Hardlight sword in his left hand and shot forward, splitting one of the knights up the front, spraying another with his rifle one handed. He spun behind the knight he had slashed just as several of the massive blasts hit its dissolving body, destroying it instantly and hurling him. He flipped, landing on his hands and feet and skidded to a stop before standing and catching his sword, sprinting forward. He dropped into a slide under a blast and grabbed his rifle just before standing and began to spray again. Two of the knights' shields shattered, and he slashed another across the abdomen, though he didn't kill it. Its helmet opened, its skull roaring at him, and he dove aside as three blasts hit its back. He rolled to his feet, spraying the two without shields, and destroying one of them, just before spinning and knocking a slash by another's Hardlight blade aside, stabbing it up through the head and spinning around it, bringing his sword hit him just in time for a knight to launch a pulse grenade into that knight's disintegrating body. Ethan sprayed a few of the other knights, breaking one's shield and destroying the other one whose shield was already down, but they were closing in, forcing him back toward the door. He was running out of room to breathe quickly.

Suddenly, an energy beam punched through the one who's shield was down, destroying it, then two more hit another knight, then a half-dozen normal DMR shots hit two more, the shots all breaking those knights' shields just in time for a sentinel to pass Ethan, a beam of blue energy firing from a weapon attached to the bottom of it, blasting into the knight Palmer had shot and destroying it after a moment. One of the knights shot forward and slashed the Sentinel, destroying it, and Ethan slashed the knight back, returning the favor. Then, dozens of sentinels began to flood past Ethan, almost immediately finishing off the knights, then spreading out as both knights and crawlers began to appear throughout the area by the dozen. The fight seemed relatively even, so Ethan wasted no time sprinting away from the facility, toward the Mammoth. He deactivated his Hardlight sword, allowing his chest magnets to catch the projectors, then began to spray any and all Prometheans he passed with his assault rifle as he ran. Palmer and the other Spartans remained where they were, using their DMRs to help clear his path for a few moments longer before picking up and falling back. A few minutes later, he broke free of the battle and fled to the Mammoth, jumping in through a door at the bottom and landing in a roll before stopping on his back, panting and letting his fear of dying finally fade.

"Ethan!" Palmer shouted, running over and kneeling beside him as he opened his eyes, smiling up at her, still trying to catch his breath.

"Hey Sarah," Ethan smiled. "Thanks for the help. You saved my ass."

"The sentinels helped more," Palmer said. "They wouldn't have gotten there in time if you hadn't intervened."

She smiled and held out her hand. He accepted her help up and looked around at the other Spartans, all of whom held DMRs.

"Welcome back, Zero," one of them said. "Glad you made it in one piece."

Ethan smiled. "Thanks for the assist. I owe you guys."

"No robot's going to kill one of ours," another Spartan said.

"Buuut, if you feel like paying us back, we would probably accept upgraded weapons," a third said.

"Or alcohol," the first said.

Ethan laughed. "Tell you what, we all get off this planet alive, I'll pay for all of you to get alcohol poisoning, and upgrade your gear while you're passed out."

They all cheered and Ethan and Palmer headed up to the top of the next floor where Lasky was looking at a screen with a map displayed.

"What's the situation?" Ethan asked.

"You made it back!" Lasky said. "Where's the Master Chief?"

"He got across a light bridge I was denied access to," Ethan said. "He'll probably get teleported out somewhere else. Where are we going? Because we sure as hell can't stay here. Those sentinels aren't going to last for long."

"Pelicans are being sent to extract us," Lasky said. "We're being pulled back to the Infinity."

"What about the gravity well?" Ethan asked.

"Without the AA-guns, the Infinity can make it to the gravity well, but needs cover," Lasky said. "All the aircraft we have will be deployed once we're back."

Ethan nodded. "Alright."

"I have Master Chief's IFF," Maria reported from the screen's speaker, appearing in a box in the corner. "He just appeared here."

"Why there?" Palmer asked.

"We have some troops engaged against Covenant there," Lasky said.

"That's not why," Ethan said, already seeing the tactical importance of the location. "It's this cliff." He pointed to it. "From there, he has a direct line of sight for the gravity well."

"What's he going to do, shoot it with his assault rifle?" Lasky asked.

"No," Ethan said. "Del Rio's going to send him a target designator, that way Roland can target the gravity well accurately, even while engaged in aerial combat."

Lasky called Infinity instantly to pass the info along, and Infinity passed the order to Master Chief. A few minutes later, Pelicans arrived to pick them up just as the gravity well was blasted by the Infinity's cannon, obliterating it. The Covenant ships trying to destroy the Infinity swung around to attack again, only for the Pelicans, as well as the Infinity's guns, to destroy them on the way to the hangar. Mostly meaning the Infinity was able to focus on the ships and not the gravity well, allowing him to mop them up in a few minutes. Once they were in the hangar, they got off the Pelican and headed for the bridge for the debrief.

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	8. Chapter 8

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

* * *

Wrong Choice

"The Infinity cannot handle that kind of punishment, not again!" Del Rio snapped, blatantly refusing to go after the Didact.

"This isn't about us or this ship anymore!" Cortana argued.

"Sir, we've seen what the Didact is capable of," Master Chief said. "If we let him leave this world, Humanity will be at risk!"

Ethan stared at the table between them all. Master Chief and Cortana had reported on everything they had learned. The Didact's way of creating the Prometheans, a device called the Composer, which was the device that led the Infinity to Requiem. A device which he planned to use on Earth. They had also said he possessed telekinesis. Ethan was terrified to think of what would happen if the Didact actually managed to reach Earth.

"Look, I understand...what you think you saw-"

"Think!?" Cortana scoffed.

"With all due respect, sir, I know what I saw," Master Chief said.

"With all due respect to you, soldier, I'm not willing to jeopardize my ship because of I the hallucinations of an aging Spartan and his malfunctioning AI!" Del Rio spat.

"You fucking asshole!" Ethan scoffed. "The two of them have saved Humanity how many times? And what have you done? What were _you_ doing during the war? How many Covenant have you killed? How many Elites? How many Prophets? How many Flood? What right do you, a spoiled, pot-bellied old man with a shiny collar, have to tell the man who's been fighting since he was, what, fourteen I think, that he doesn't know what he's talking about? What would you know about what he did or didn't see down on the ground, in the fight, when you're sitting up here, telling everyone that they're fighting too slow and that they don't need to know what kind of fight they're going into because you're too impatient for recon!? What right do you have to tell Master Chief, the best Humanity has _ ever_ had to offer, that he's wrong about anything to do with fighting, when all _you_ do is tell other people to fight _for_ you!?"

"You utter one more word and I'll have you jettisoned from the nearest airlock!" Del Rio snapped.

"Respectfully, Sir, what if the Master Chief is right?" Lasky asked.

"Nav, as soon as we know we're air-tight, I want a course laid in to Carinae Station," Del Rio said, glaring at Lasky and daring him to challenge his authority again. "Comm, prepare a warning beacon."

Suddenly, Cortana began to flicker between blue and red. " not...allow you...to leave...this...PLANET! ! !"

An EMP exploded outward from her avatar, sending Ethan staggering backward with a pained shout, clutching his head, and making the other computers on the bridge all spark and shut down before starting back up a couple at a time.

"Cortana," Master Chief said.

"I didn't mean to," Cortana said nervously. "I didn't mean to do that!"

"Commander Lasky," Del Rio snarled. "Pursuant to Article fifty five of UNSC Regulation twelve-one-four-five-seven-two, I'm ordering you to remove that AI's data chip and retire it for final dispensation!"

"I don't want to!" Cortana was muttering to herself. "You don't want me to! Please!"

"Remove it _now_, Commander!" Del Rio snapped.

"Please," Cortana pleaded. "Don't."

Lasky reached down to take the chip, but Master Chief took the chip first.

"Give...me...that...chip!" Del Rio snarled, getting as close to in Master Chief's face as he could.

"The Didact has to be stopped," Master Chief said, plugging Cortana into his helmet. "If you won't do that, I will."

"I...am ordering you...TO SURRENDER THAT AI! ! !" Del Rio bellowed, only for Ethan to press the barrel of his assault rifle to his forehead.

"Lay a single hand on that data chip, and I repaint the bridge with your brains, well, maybe a single square centimeter of it," Ethan warned.

"Lieutenant!" Del Rio shouted, turning to Palmer, who was watching Ethan with her mouth hanging open slightly and eyes wide. "ARREST THESE MEN! ! !"

"Captain!" Lasky snapped.

"ARREST THEM! ! !"

"CAPTAIN! ! !" Lasky bellowed.

"EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP! ! !" Palmer finally shouted.

"Get word to Earth that trouble is coming," Master Chief said to Lasky, ignoring Palmer and Del Rio entirely now. "Cortana and I will do what we can from here."

"I'll pass the message to Halsey," Ethan said. "She'll get everyone moving. Criminal or not, she knows what she's talking about, and has the clearance to tell it directly to the top of the chain."

Master Chief nodded and turned, heading for the door.

"Master Chief, stop right there!" Palmer said, raising her DMR, only for Ethan to step into her path, removing his helmet.

"Sarah, you know he's right," Ethan said, Palmer having immediately dropped her rifle.

"Arrest that man right now, Spartan!" Del Rio snapped.

Palmer looked over at him, then back at Ethan. "You..._were_ out of line to aim at him."

"I don't care," Ethan said. "There's too much at stake for me to care about Del Rio's feelings."

"I will have you court-martialed!" Del Rio snapped. "You will be tried and executed!"

"As I've said before," Ethan said. "I would absolutely _love_ to see you try to court-martial me. I'm not under your command. And no one actually cares what you have to say."

"Give me that rifle!" Del Rio seethed, grabbing for Palmer's DMR, only for her to instinctively crack him across the jaw with her buttstock, taking a step back and aiming at him.

"Stand down captain!" Lasky shouted.

"Get the hell off of my ship!" Del Rio seethed. "Both of you!"

"No," Ethan said flatly. "We're not going anywhere."

Del Rio was fuming, but seemed to understand his situation. He had no power. Not anymore. Not right now.

"Get us to Earth!" Del Rio finally snapped. "NOW! ! !"

The sailors around the room all turned and got to work instantly, and Ethan turned walking away, heading to his room and trying to calm himself. However, after several minutes of failing, he planted his right fist in his wall, breaking completely through it. He ripped it back out just as the door hissed open, and he spun, seeing it was Palmer and sighed, sitting down and resting his head in his hands struggling to get himself back under control. After a moment, Palmer sat beside him, setting a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Palmer asked.

"No!" Ethan snapped. "That mother fucker deserves to die!" He grit his teeth, letting out a slow breath, forcing his voice down to a normal level. "Sorry. I shouldn't yell at you."

"Everyone has to vent," Palmer said. "It's a part of being human."

"But I'm _not_ human!" He stood, beginning to pace the few feet of space he had beside the bed. "I haven't been human since X-Fifty! hell, I'm not even _alive_ anymore! I'm a fucking _robot_, Sarah! I'm no better than those fucking Prometheans!"

"You're not a Promethean," Palmer said. "You're still you."

"I'm a machine!"

"You're my friend!" Sarah snapped, standing and grabbing him by the shoulders, forcing him to face her. "You are the luckiest person in the galaxy, because you got a second chance at life! You lost your life unfairly, and you were given a new one!"

"I'm only lucky because you're here," Ethan muttered, not wanting to admit that she's right.

Sarah smirked. "Sorry, I didn't quite hear that. Can you say it a little louder, and maybe into my suit's mic, so I can record it for blackmail."

"Oh hah hah," Ethan smirked. "If you want me to smother you with compliments I can. Just look under the pillow if you want proof."

She cocked an eyebrow and turned, walking to the bed and flipping the pillow, seeing the word "compliments" written on the underside in permanent marker. She snorted, then collapsed onto the bed, laughter peeling out of her as she held her stomach. Ethan grinned. After a couple of minutes, he sat down beside her and she managed to stop herself laughing, sitting up as he slipped his right hand into hers.

"I mean it, though," Ethan said. "I don't...I wouldn't have been able to handle this...being what I...what I am now, if you weren't here. You keep me sane. You're my lifeline."

Palmer smiled slightly and gave his hand a small squeeze. "It's the least I can do, since you make serving on this ship bearable. Even with Del Rio around."

Ethan smiled. "Just wait until I kidnap you and hold you hostage on a resort planet next time."

Palmer grinned. "I can't wait." She kissed him on the cheek. "I have to go check on the rest of the Spartans. If you need me, just call, alright?"

"Sure," Ethan nodded. "See you soon."

She smiled and nodded, then left the room. Ethan sighed, laying back on his bed, staring at the hole in his wall.

"Maria, you there?" Ethan asked.

"I'm here," Maria said, appearing beside him, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Are we okay?" Ethan asked.

"No rampancy detected," Maria assured him. "You just lost your temper."

Ethan nodded. "I hope FLEETCOM fires Del Rio. And they'd better leave Sarah alone."

"They will," Maria said. "I recorded the entire thing and sent it to Halsey with the warning."

"Any response?" Ethan asked.

"She said to tell you to stop misbehaving," Maria said. "And that she'll take care of Del Rio."

Ethan nodded. "Then I guess all that's left is to wait."

Maria nodded and Ethan stood up, heading to the armory and beginning to upgrade a weapon for each of the Spartans, as promised.

* * *

Ethan grinned as he watched Del Rio getting chewed out. It was a beautiful sight. Almost worth the headache. Almost. Ethan turned away, walking back onto the Infinity, stopping beside Palmer at the top of the gangway.

"The Didact will be here soon," Ethan said. "We need to be ready."

Palmer nodded. "It'll be a hell of a ride."

"Yeah," Ethan nodded.

They walked to the bridge, and a few minutes later, Lasky walked in, looking shellshocked.

"What's up?" Ethan asked.

"I've...been given command of the Infinity," Lasky said.

"Good for you," Ethan grinned. "Perfect time for a present. Catch."

He tossed Lasky a magnum pistol, and Lasky stared at it, then up at Ethan.

"It fires Hardlight explosives now," Ethan said. "Think of it like a pocket-sized rocket launcher."

"Christ, you're never allowed to touch a nuke," Lasky said.

"That's what I told him," Palmer smirked. "Anyway, let's get this ship going, shall we Tom? We need to go help Master Chief."

Lasky nodded, but just as they left Earth's Atmosphere, a Slipspace rupture registered on their sensors.

"Hostile contact!" someone shouted, both to Lasky, and to FLEETCOM. "At current velocity, it will reach Earth's atmosphere in four minutes!"

"Understood!" Lasky said. "Get this ship in position to defend the planet!"

"One-one-seven to Infinity, Captain Del Rio, do you copy?" Master Chief's voice asked.

"Master Chief, this is Lasky, is that you?"

"Affirmative sir," Master Chief responded. "Where's the captain?"

"FLEETCOM didn't take too kindly to his abandoning you on Requiem," Lasky said. "I'm afraid I'll have to do."

"The Didact's got the Composer," Master Chief said. "We're in a Broadsword, carrying a HAVOC-grade payload, on approach to deliver."

"Let's see if we can grease the wheels for you," Lasky said. "All ships, prepare to engage!"

Every ship on, or around, Earth moved to meet the Forerunner ship that they could see, one which was so gigantic that the Infinity, the largest ship ever built by humanity, looked like a banshee next to a super-carrier in comparison, but they were too slow. And Lasky knew it.

"Chief, the Battlegroup's moving to intercept, but at the rate the Didact's ship is advancing, he'll reach the wire in T-minus two minutes!" Lasky said.

"I should have upgraded the Infinity's cannons," Ethan said.

"No," Palmer said. "No messing with things that have a high chance of exploding."

Ethan smiled and shrugged.

"Commander, direct all your ships to the composer!" Master Chief advised.

"Copy that Chief," Lasky acknowledged.

"Orbital Defense Command, this is FLEETCOM!" a voice said suddenly. "Hostile inbound! Proceed to condition red!"

"Hey, they finally noticed," Ethan smirked.

"Took them long enough," Palmer grumbled.

The Orbital Defense stations and ships opened fire on the ship, targeting the spot Maria had placed the Composer, but while the explosions were colorful and pretty, they were also completely ineffective, because they did little besides scorch the ship's hull, and even that would probably wash off.

"This is Earth Orbital Defense, MAC defense ineffective against enemy vessel, it's still approaching!" someone reported.

"Looks like it's up to Chief," Ethan said.

Palmer nodded as the Battlegroup finally reached the Didact's ship. They began to try to attack the ship, but the ship was defended by the same type of particle cannons as had kept the Infinity grounded on Requiem. Ethan growled. They were helpless. Against a ship like that, they were completely helpless.

"Infinity to FLEETCOM, Battlegroup has reached Didact's ship!" Lasky reported.

"Captain Lasky, you are cleared to engage!" FLEETCOM responded.

"Way ahead of you," Ethan said. "And failing."

"We'll think of something," Palmer said. "No one's incinerating the human race today."

"Infinity, the Didact just closed off our entrance to the Composer," Master Chief reported.

"We could try punching a hole in the hull plating but the Infinity won't be able to get a clear shot with all that flak," Lasky said.

"Master Chief, I'm reading a power source under each particle cannon," Maria reported. "It should look like a ball of light."

"Copy," Master Chief responded. "I'll take care of the guns."

Ethan watched out the window as Master Chief's broadsword, a tiny speck from this distance, dropped each gun one by one, having them all down in moments.

"Knock, knock Didact," Ethan growled.

"Infinity, you're clear," Master Chief said as the last gun disintegrated.

"Roger that Chief," Lasky said. "You might want to back up a little. Main battery, fire!"

Two beams of bright white energy flashed across the distance between the two ships, bridging the gap for several seconds before ending, leaving a hole smaller around than the Infinity in the hull plating. Ethan face-palmed.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Ethan growled. "That's it? I'm so glad we don't have to destroy that ship the hard way."

"Clean hit, we're proceeding to insertion," Master Chief said, flying his broadsword into the hole.

"Acknowledged, we'll be on station if you need us," Lasky promised. "Make sure you give the Didact our regards. Infinity out."

Then, Master Chief was inside the ship and his signal cut out. Ethan watched the hole for a moment before taking a deep breath and leaning on the side of the holomap projector.

"You okay?" Palmer asked.

"I feel useless," Ethan said. "I hate ship battles."

"Same," Palmer said. "I'd much prefer to be shooting Covenant in the face than watching our ship shoot at theirs from the sidelines."

"You _are_ good at shooting things in the face," Ethan smiled.

Palmer smiled as well and set her hand on his. "It's going to be okay. You'll see."

"I know," Ethan said. "I have faith in Master Chief."

Palmer nodded and they fell silent, waiting for the fireworks.

* * *

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	9. Chapter 9

I do not own Halo or any of the characters. Changing the storyline a bit.

* * *

Bittersweet Victory

Ethan held his head in his hands, tears flooding down his face. The Composer was firing. Maria had reported that it had hit in the heart of New Phoenix. But then something Ethan hadn't been prepared for happened. He could _feel_ them being Composed. He could Hear their screams. Their faces were flashing across his vision in blazing orange, dissolving into skulls, then fading entirely. It was horrible. He could feel their pain, and their screams were cutting through him worse than any blade. Palmer was at his side, trying to get him to talk to her, to tell her what was wrong, and why Maria was screaming through all of the ship's speakers for him, scaring the shit out of the rest of the ship's occupants.

"I can...feel them," Ethan finally managed to whisper.

Palmer's eyes widened, however, suddenly, the voices stopped. Maria's screams finally died off and Ethan looked to the Earth. It was still firing, but there was no one left in the city to be Composed. New Phoenix was gone. He stood shakily, Palmer helping to steady him.

"Are you alright?" Palmer asked.

"No," he croaked, wiping his face. "They're all gone."

Then, suddenly, the HAVOC bomb went off. It was late, but it worked. The entire front half of the Didact's ship, and a chain of smaller explosions travelled backward through the ship, ripping it apart as well and scattering it into space. Ethan stared at the debris. Master Chief hadn't flown out. He was gone.

"I'm reading one life sign," Maria said. "Master Chief's Neural network is intact!"

"He's alive?" Ethan asked, walking quickly to the window and looking out at the debris field.

After a moment, a piece of the ship drifted out of the way and he stared at a floating bubble of Hardlight. It was hard to see through, but he could see Master Chief inside. And Cortana. Life-size and with her hand resting against Master Chief's armor.

"Oh no," Ethan breathed. "She isn't..."

"Her signal's fading," Maria said, just as Cortana backed away from Master Chief, fading, the Hardlight beginning to fade slowly as well.

"Lasky, I'm taking a Pelican!" Ethan said, sprinting away. Within a matter of minutes he was in the hangar and on a Pelican, Maria taking control of it and piloting it out of the Infinity.

"You know where you're going?" Lasky asked over the radio.

"Yes," Ethan said.

"Alright," Lasky said. "Bring back our Spartan."

"Yes sir," Ethan said.

After a couple of minutes, Maria stopped the Pelican and opened the back door, Ethan finding Master Chief floating there, stuck in orbit. Ethan hooked a safety cable to his armor and jumped out, grabbing Master Chief before Maria towed them both back in. Master Chief lay unmoving on the floor for a long while as Maria flew them back. Ethan sighed, pulling his helmet off.

"I promised to tell you what I was after we stopped the Didact," Ethan reminded him. "Do you still want to know?"

"No," Master Chief said.

"I didn't think so," Ethan said, going silent for a few moments. "I'm sorry, Chief. I'm so sorry."

Master Chief didn't respond, so Ethan fell silent, allowing Maria to fly them the rest of the way back. Master Chief left without another word and Ethan sighed, sitting on the side of the Pelican's ramp, trying to quiet the echoes of the New Phoenix population's screams. After a few minutes, Palmer stopped in front of him, kneeling down to look him in the face.

"How are you holding up?" Palmer asked.

"Horribly," Ethan said. "There were so many of them. I...I can still hear them. Like an echo."

"Are you going to be okay?" Palmer asked worriedly.

"I...I don't know," Ethan admitted. "I can't...This whole mission has been..."

Palmer reached up and took one of his hands, giving it a light squeeze. "I'm here for you."

Ethan nodded. "Come on. We should get out of our armor."

Palmer nodded and helped Ethan up, the two of them walking to the armor bay and getting in two of the machines. As Ethan's armor was being removed the blonde technician whose name he felt guilty for not knowing, despite how much she clearly liked him, walked over, looking worried.

"Are you and Maria alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," Ethan said quietly. "We're fine."

"Well, I think I'll probably be free later, if you want to have some drinks," she smiled hopefully.

"I...don't think so," Ethan sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just...not in the drinking mood. Or, at least, not a _good_ drinking mood."

She nodded, smiling still. "Alright. Maybe some other time?"

"Maybe," Ethan said, stepping down off the machine. "You know, I feel guilty for never asking your name."

"I'm Marissa," she smiled. "And one of these days, I _will_ win you over."

Ethan managed a small smile. "Don't be so sure. You're very attractive, but I'm not the kind of person who gets a happy ending."

"If you want a happy ending, you just have to ask," she smiled seductively, winking, then turning and walking away.

Ethan rolled his eyes, sighing just as Master Chief walked past. His shoulders were slumped, and he was walking like he was drained. Ethan and Palmer both watched as he climbed onto a machine, his armor being disassembled and taken off a few pieces at a time. Then, the helmet came off. Ethan stared. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't that.

"The paperwork's been approved, Chief," Roland said. "Are you sure about this? Retiring is...are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yes," Master Chief said. "I'm done. I can't do this anymore."

"Alright," Roland said. "I wish you the best."

Master Chief began to leave and everyone in the room snapped to attention, all of them saluting him. He paused, looking around at them before continuing out of the room. Once he was gone, they all went back to what they had been doing. Ethan and Palmer headed back to the bridge where Lasky was being told by Roland that Master Chief had retired.

"Hard to believe this day actually came," Lasky said.

"I agree," Ethan nodded. "But, while you're getting bad news, I'm taking leave."

"Granted," Lasky said. "I plan to be docked on Earth for as long as I can so everyone can rest. This mission was...hard on everyone."

Ethan nodded. "Thank you. You're already doing better than Del Rio."

"If I can make one request," Ethan said. "Try not to go AWOL so much? It's a headache I don't want to deal with."

"I'm not AWOL if no one reports me," Ethan smirked. "But I'll try to give you a heads up."

"Thank you," Lasky smiled.

Ethan nodded and headed to his room, Palmer following. Once they were there, Ethan leaned his assault rifle against the wall, setting his Hardlight sword and its projectors on the floor, then leaned back into the corner, sighing.

"So, do you need a hostage?" Palmer asked.

"Not this time," Ethan said. "I might be able top deal with some company though, if you'd like to tag along. I'm going to go see if my family's old hunting cabin is still there. If I remember right, I was the only one who used it, so I should be able to get away there. With tons of alcohol and guns, of course."

Palmer laughed. "Of course. What better way to spend vacation than at the beach."

"Oh no, I told you, _that's_ going to be my next AWOL trip," Ethan smiled. "And that's the time I'm going to have a hostage with me."

Palmer smiled, nodding. "I'm so glad Del Rio's gone."

"I hope he gets dishonorably discharged," Ethan said. "That cranky old fucker."

Palmer nodded. "How long do you think we'll have off?"

"Not long enough," Ethan said. "Christ I'm tired. I need a nap."

Palmer smiled. "You kicking me out already?"

"I mean, you're more than welcome to stay," Ethan smirked. "I _do_ love a good cuddle every now and then."

Palmer laughed, shaking her head. "You really are relentless."

Ethan shrugged, laying down, then watching her with one eyebrow arched. Palmer smirked and shrugged, walking over and climbing onto the bed, making it a point to climb over him and lay between him and the wall. Ethan smiled and pulled the covers up over her, laying facing her. She grinned challengingly and scooted her body a little closer, so he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against himself, their legs interlocking as he did, Palmer gasping slightly as her leg felt something solid press against it, her eyes widening.

"You..._were_ just kidding around about...everything, right?" Palmer asked.

Ethan reached up and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before setting his head back down. "Good night Sarah."

He closed his eyes and she opened her mouth to demand an answer, only for him to go limp as he passed out. She stared at him in silence for a long while before sighing and placing a kiss of her own on his forehead, then resting her own forehead against his.

"Good night Ethan," Palmer whispered, closing her eyes and quickly drifting off as well.

* * *

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	10. Chapter 10

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

* * *

Vacation

Ethan leaned against one of the pillars on the porch of the cabin, watching as Palmer sighted in down the antique hunting rifle, and 30-30 from the twenty first century, back when they still used wood in buttstocks, and guns didn't need to be powered up to function. After several seconds, she squeezed the trigger, punching a hole through the bull's eye, just off center. Nearly perfect. Ethan smiled, accepting the rifle and loading his one bullet, sighting in on his target, right next to Palmer's. Then, after a moment, he pulled the trigger. He set the weapon aside and they walked to the targets, comparing them. The difference was less than a centimeter, but Ethan's was dead center, while Palmer's was a hair to the right, barely noticeable.

"I win," Ethan smirked.

"What?" Palmer snorted. "No way! Mine is clearly closer. You need your eyes checked."

"What are you talking about?" Ethan laughed. "Mine's dead center!"

"No way!" Palmer laughed. "Mine's clearly closer than yours!"

Ethan laughed. They continued to argue as they walked back to the cabin. The cabin was great. From the door, there was a large main room with a hand-carved table covered in plexiglass with cards trapped under it in fanned hands, as though there had been a poker game going on when the table was coated, six hand-carved chairs around it, a bed to the left in the corner, a wood stove for warmth along the left wall, and a gun rack in the right corner. Along the right wall, there was an opening into an extension that held the fridge on the right side, a sink beside it, and then a stove across from the sink, on the left side from the opening. Directly across from the door into the cabin, a pair of short walls split the otherwise complete room in half, the other half having the rest of the eight total beds. There were three sets of bunk beds in the far half of the building, one to the immediate right and left, then one in the far right corner. In the far left corner was the biggest bed, a queen-sized one, with a California king fitted sheet, top sheet, and comforter. They had running water, a gas stove, a generator for the lights, and the outhouse didn't stink too bad. Fortunately, his ancestors, whichever had built the cabin, had thought to make the bathroom outhouse, and the shower house separate, so they didn't have to hold their breath to shower, or come out smelling like shit, literally.

"It feels good to relax," Ethan said, dropping into a chair and leaning back. "No Covenant shooting at me, no Forerunner robots trying to kill me..."

"No Del Rio yelling at me because of you," Palmer smirked.

"What can I say?" Ethan asked. "That old man didn't see eye to eye with anyone."

Palmer shook her head, smiling, and pulled the fridge open, taking out a pair of beers and walking over, handing him one. He used his right thumb to flick the bottle cap off just as Palmer twisted hers off.

"Oh," he shrugged and took a swig. "Christ, even after all this time in the military, Beer still tastes like piss."

"If you don't want it, I'll take it," Palmer asked.

"Are you suggesting I try to get you drunk?" Ethan grinned, raising an eyebrow, then took another swig of the beer. "I'll manage, but I'll keep your offer in mind."

Palmer shook her head, drinking from her own beer before pulling out a deck of cards. Ethan groaned. She had already beaten him so bad in poker, while betting drinks to buy one another, that he could probably buy a brewery for less money.

"What do you have to lose?" Palmer asked.

"Even more money," Ethan said.

Palmer shrugged. "I think free beers is an excellent reason to play."

"I can't believe you like drinking this stuff," Ethan said, finishing his beer and grimacing, heading to the fridge for another while she stacked the deck.

Maria had already warned him that she did it every time they played, but he allowed her to because he liked seeing her smile. It was fun being happy for a change. He missed being happy. He hadn't been happy since he had joined the military as a human. Now that he was a machine, it had only gotten worse. Until now. He sat back down, setting down two shot glasses and a bottle of Jack Daniels and Palmer laughed, draining her beer.

"Alright Ethan," Palmer smirked. "I'm game. What've you got in mind?"

"We take turns dealing one hand, and lowest hand takes a shot," Ethan said. "And no more stacking the deck."

Palmer laughed. "I was wondering if you noticed. Alright, sure."

Ethan took the cards, shuffling them, then dealt the first hand. Palmer checked her cards and smirked. laying down a full house.

Ethan dropped his hand of absolutely nothing on the table and poured a shot, draining it before filling both glasses. Palmer shook her head, smirking, then dealt the next hand. Ethan lost again, fairly this time. The next hand, Palmer lost. Then Ethan. Then Palmer. Palmer again. Ethan three times. And Palmer twice. Ethan sighed, staring at the just over half-empty bottle, and drummed his fingers on the table.

"Calling it quits already Ethan?" Palmer asked, already dealing another hand.

"Trying to decide if it's worth it to go take a piss or not," Ethan said.

Palmer snorted. "Probably not."

"Probably not," Ethan agreed. "Fuck it."

He stood, heading outside and away from the door before pissing on a tree. Once finished, he headed back to the door and stopped, leaning against the doorframe and watched as she checked his cards and grimaced, quickly taking a shot before putting all of the cards away and shuffling, dealing again. Then, she leaned back and he walked in, smirking and walking past her into the kitchen.

"I'm surprised you took the shot," Ethan said, hearing her swear.

"I play fair, when you ask me to," Palmer said.

"And yet, you swapped the cards out anyway," Ethan smirked, drinking a glass of water. "You just wanted me to think I'm losing badly, right?"

"Pretty much," Palmer said. "Can you grab me a beer? I want a chaser."

"Poor choice of chaser," Ethan said, grabbing her one and walking over. "You're about as bad at making decisions as I am."

He stopped behind her and she looked up at him, quirking an eyebrow as he bent down, kissing her lightly on the forehead as he set the bottle on the table. He straightened up and walked over to his chair, sitting down and taking his next shot before pouring another. "Where were we?"

Palmer didn't answer right away, instead watching him with a funny expression, somewhere between conflicted and spacing out. "Why do you do that?"

"Do what?" Ethan asked.

"Act like that," Palmer said. "The flirting, the kisses on the forehead or cheek. Why do you do it?"

She wasn't wrong. Since they'd gotten to the cabin their usual banter had gotten a lot more common, and he had begun to randomly kiss her on the cheek or forehead from time to time. Of course, she'd been acting the same way, so he wasn't sure why she was asking.

"Why do you?" Ethan countered after several seconds.

Palmer watched him carefully for several seconds before her eyes dropped to the table and she flipped over her cards. "Damn. I guess I'll be drinking this hand."

Ethan watched her melancholy expression for a few seconds before flipping his own cards. She had a pair of threes. He had a pair of twos. "And your luck holds."

Palmer smiled, but she remained sad. Ethan sighed and threw his shot back before standing and walking outside. He could feel Palmer watching him as he leaned on the railing. He had drank too much. He had drank passed happy and into emotional. They both had. Whatever game they were both playing wasn't one that would mix well with alcohol. He looked down at his right arm, but before he could start hating himself, he was pulled out of his thoughts by Palmer's arms wrapping around his abdomen as she hugged him from behind.

"I'm sorry," Palmer whispered. "I didn't mean to ruin the mood."

"Sarah," Ethan sighed, pulling her arms away just enough to turn around, gently brushing her messy hair behind her ear, since she had kept it down since they arrived. "You didn't ruin the mood. I always get like this if I drink for too long. You have nothing to apologize for."

She smiled up at him. He wasn't a lot taller than her, only about two inches, but given how tall she was as a Spartan, it made him feel even less normal. He was pushing seven feet tall. A normal human male would be about six. In his family, he should be about five seven. He was pulled out of his thoughts by movement as Palmer's eyes fluttered closed, and he realized his left thumb had been gently stroking her cheek as he thought, and his right hand had slid down to the small of her back. he could kiss her. She was probably drunk enough to kiss him back. She might be drunk enough that kissing wasn't the only thing they'd do, if he played his cards right, no pun intended. He placed a light kiss on her forehead, sighing silently. He couldn't take advantage of her. He'd never forgive himself for that.

"I thought for sure you were going to actually kiss me that time," Palmer smiled, opening her eyes.

"So did I," Ethan admitted. "Given that it's you, it'd probably be worth a few broken bones."

Palmer smiled. "I might not have broken any."

Ethan smiled and pulled her into a hug. Palmer leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder, face turned away from him, and her arms tightened around him. He twisted slightly as they stood there, neither speaking. After a couple of minutes, a slow song began to play _out of_ his ears, Maria appearing behind Palmer, gesturing for them to dance before winking and disappearing from his sight again. He smiled, starting to sway slightly, Palmer moving with him as they began to dance.

"Ear speakers," Palmer smiled. "That's a new one. Bet that makes firefights much more fun."

"Actually, it's a new one to me too," Ethan said. "I think Maria might be messing with my parts and functions."

"Well, tell her to keep her hands off of your parts," Palmer said. "I'm on vacation too and I don't want to have to leave the cabin for that."

Ethan chuckled. "I'll pass the message along."

Palmer nodded, not bothering to pick up her head, and they continued to sway. After that song, and another, Maria allowed the music to fade out with the second song and they continued to sway slightly, though they stopped turning. Ethan tilted his head against Palmer's and smiled. She smelled as beautiful as she looked. Like flowers and cherries, mixed with a hint of the alcohol they'd been enjoying earlier. He closed his eyes, recording the moment in his memory,, in a more literal sense than most people. The sound of insects chirping in the woods, the gentle breath of the breeze, the sigh of the tree branches around them swaying gently, the feeling of holding her, the smell of her shampoo mixing with the alcohol, the slight numbness in his brain from his own alcohol. It was almost perfect. But it couldn't last forever. After a couple of minutes, he felt nature calling again and instantly regretted having gone earlier and broken the metaphorical seal.

"I have to go again," Ethan said, making no move to leave their embrace.

"I warned you not to," Palmer smiled, making no move to release him.

"That's true," Ethan sighed. "You should probably let go of me before I make a mess."

"I'm pretty comfortable," Palmer said.

"Will you still be comfortable with my urine covering you?" Ethan asked.

"Kinky," Palmer smirked, then sighed heavily and released him. "Go. I'm going to get another drink."

"I'll be back to join you in a little bit," Ethan smiled, kissing her on the forehead again before walking away.

He walked to the out house this time, for no real reason, and began to do what he needed to, only for Maria to appear beside the hole he was peeing into, a toilet seat screwed to the plywood the hole was in to make a more comfortable place to sit when it was something other than piss.

"I'm trying to use the bathroom," Ethan said.

"Successfully, by the look of it," Maria said.

"I'd like privacy," Ethan said.

"You do realize I can _always_ see what you're doing, right?" Maria asked. "You'll never have privacy again for as long as you keep me around. Besides, I'm a part of you. Me looking at your dick is essentially the same thing as you looking down at your own dick."

"What do you want Maria?" Ethan asked, amazed that he hadn't finished yet.

"Just checking in on my favorite counterpart," Maria said.

"And?" Ethan asked.

"And telling you to stop chickening out," Maria said. "Would you like me to tell you what kind of physical reaction she had in that little moment you two had when you were too scared to actually kiss her?"

"No," Ethan said, finally finishing. "I'm fine without you explaining neurochemistry to me."

"Suit yourself," Maria shrugged, disappearing.

Ethan sighed, zipping and buttoning his shorts, which he was only wearing because there were no Spartan-sized jeans, and walked back to the cabin, stopping at the door once again as he found Palmer leaning back against the table, watching him. She smiled.

"That was a long piss," Palmer smirked. "I was starting to wonder if maybe you had to go relieve a different kind of pressure."

"Funny," Ethan said, walking toward her and reaching for the shot glass she offered him, only for her to move her arm out of his reach.

He followed and ended up with his fingers just shy of the shot glass, standing pressing against her and with his face hovering just in front of hers. He looked into her eyes, seeing them fluttering just slightly in an attempt to close, though she was fighting it. They _did_, however, flick down to his lips for a split second, mirroring his own eyes' betrayal. He leaned in slowly, tilting his head to the side just enough to not ram his nose into hers and he felt her breath stutter out, then catch. He was less than an inch away. He knew she'd let him. He didn't actually _need_ Maria to point that out. he didn't really need her to point out the way her pulse raced when he was near, or the way the muscles in her legs trembled like they might give out when his body pressed to hers. Or how her temperature rose, in some places more than others, when their bodies pressed together. He didn't need to be told that her brain began to send and receive signals from its nerve endings at triple the normal rate when he was close to her. And he certainly didn't need to know that despite how much they had drunk, neither of them were really drunk enough to affect their decision-making enough to change whether or not she would allow him to kiss her. He already knew all of this, because Maria's sensors and scanners were his. What she knew, he knew. After all, she was him.

But even knowing all of this, there were two things that kept him from closing that tiny distance between them. First was that tiny, nagging voice of doubt in the back of his brain. Not that she didn't want him to, but that he'd mess it up somehow. The voice didn't know how, but it told him he would, somehow. The second reason, was the enjoyment he got from teasing her and seeing that split-second flash of disappointment in her eyes each time when he pulled away, as he did this time as he took the shot glass from her and drained it, smirking. Except, she didn't hide anything this time. Instead, she pouted.

"That's cruel," she said. "I was going to drink that."

Ethan smiled and poured another shot, holding it up in front of her. She smiled, leaning forward, only for him to drain the shot. She glared at him, and he chuckled. He poured another shot and held it up again. She made no move to accept it so he tilted the glass toward her. After a moment, she opened her mouth and he poured it into her mouth for her. She swallowed and smirked.

"Thank you," she said. "Alcohol hog."

"It's not my fault," Ethan shrugged. "My body burns alcohol too fast to stay drunk."

"Lucky you," she said.

"Hardly!" he snorted. "That's the best part."

She shook her head and leaned forward. "Are you sure it's the best part?"

"Well I was, but I'm starting to second guess myself," he said.

She smiled, leaning closer, only to move to the side and kiss him on the cheek at the last second. "Shame your best part doesn't last long, then."

She slipped past him and he shook his head slowly, grinning. Round and round they went. He walked to the fridge and pulled out four beers, taking the caps off of two and followed her out onto the porch again, wrapping his arms around her from behind and pressing one of the beers into her hand. She smiled, taking a swig only to gasp in surprise as he pressed one of the cold ones to the side of her neck, making her choke on the beer. She coughed and laughed for several seconds before driving her heel into his shin.

"Ow," he said.

"You earned it," she said. "You made me choke."

"Sorry," he smirked. "I got a little over-excited."

She shook her head, grinning, and took another drink. He took a drink of his own, then set it on the railing, wrapping his arms around her gently, left holding her against him while the right kept him from putting too much of his weight against her and crushing her against the railing. He rested his chin on her shoulder and she reached a hand back to comb her fingers through his hair as she took another drink. He didn't bother taking another drink and simply enjoyed holding her. After a minute, she held her bottle up to him and he opened his mouth, allowing her to give him a drink, however, she spilled a little onto her shirt and groaned.

"Dammit, I hate having wet clothes!" she complained.

"Damn," Ethan said. "Guess you'll have to take it off."

"Oh you wish," Palmer snorted.

"What, that I'd get to see you shirtless?" Ethan smirked. "Duh. Do you really even need to ask?"

Palmer shook her head, finishing her drink. "It's beautiful here. I thought there'd be more mosquitoes, though, since we're in the middle of the woods."

"I generate a barrier for a few meters that keeps them away," Ethan said. "Useful huh?"

"Oh my God, that's like the best invention ever!" Palmer said. "I knew you were good for something."

"Ouch," he smiled. "That's harsh."

She smiled and he reached his left hand out, lifting his beer to take a drink and making a point to place his arm against her eyes, then rubbing it in circles to annoy her as he slowly drank his entire bottle. Once he set it back down, he smirked.

"Oops, sorry," he said. "I swear I didn't mean to do that."

"Oh I'm sure," Palmer snorted. "Mind opening my next one?"

"I would, actually," he said. "I think you've drank enough. I mean, you're so obviously wasted."

Palmer snorted. "Right. Obviously. Can't even stand on my own."

He smiled and kissed the back of her shoulder as he reached out, holding the next bottle around the neck with his left hand, then pressed his thumb into the side of the cap and slid it sideways, starting the cap for her. She hummed appreciatively.

"Impressive," she said. "You're good."

"Why thank you," he said, starting his own as well.

She took a drink from hers and he stepped over to lean on the railing beside her, taking a drink from his own as well, only to move his arm and bottle out of the way as she suddenly leaned into him, smirking as she intentionally bumped his bottle, making it pour more into his mouth than he expected..

He swallowed the much larger mouthful than he had meant to take and quirked an eyebrow at her. "Comfy?"

"Fairly," she said, taking another drink.

He smiled, setting his beer down and wrapping his arms around her. "And is that the only reason I suddenly find myself blessed with having an angel in my arms? Or did you have something else in mind?"

She smiled, pretending to think. "Nope. Can't really think of anything."

"Oh I see," he smiled, his thumbs brushing against her at the small of her back. "Well, I suppose that's a good enough reason for me."

She smiled. "Good."

She finished her beer and set her head on his shoulder, face toward him this time and her breath tickling his neck. He finished his own beer as well, and they stayed there for a while longer. Finally, he decided it was probably time to call it a night. It was getting late. Her trailed his hands up and down her back and she sighed.

"Fine," she sighed, knowing what he was going to say. "I suppose sleeping _does_ sound good."

He smiled when she didn't bother trying to move, not that he had expected her to, and he lifted her into his arms. He walked into the cabin and set her on the largest bed, which they'd been sharing. Originally, they hadn't been planning to, but he had woken up in the middle of the first night from a nightmare about the New Phoenix incident and found her beside him, comforting him, and they had just stayed together for the night, then had just shared the bed after that by unspoken agreement.

Once he had laid her on the bed, he pulled her shoes and socks off, dropping them on the floor before slipping his own off and climbing into the bed, pulling the sheet and comforter up over them both. He lay on his back and she cuddled into him, laying so that she was half on top of him, her left leg between his and her left hand on his chest. His left arm was around her as well, and he gently trailed it up and down her left side as they lay there. After a few minutes, she slid her hand up to his shoulder and used it to pull herself up to kiss his cheek.

"I'm glad you let me come with you," Palmer said quietly.

"I'm glad you agreed," Ethan smiled down at her, right hand gently brushing some loose hair behind her ear. "I don't think I could have handled being alone. Not after..."

"Me neither," Palmer said. "But mostly, I'm glad it was you."

He smiled, and brought his right hand up to her left arm, gently dragging his fingertips over her arm from shoulder to mid-forearm and back a few times. Palmer smiled as his hand turned, his fingers wrapping gently around her arm just above her elbow, thumb brushing over her skin. Her eyes flicked down again and she looked conflicted for a second. However, after several moments, she sighed quietly, setting her head down on his left shoulder again.

He reached down, kissing the top of her head for several seconds before pulling back. She looked back up at him and remained doing so for several seconds without saying anything. Finally, she reached up, capturing his lips with her own. He sighed, kissing her back as she moved to straddle his waist so that they wouldn't have to strain to reach each other. Her hands moved to his shoulders as she shifted her position, and his hands moved to the small of her back. Ethan held her against him tightly as he felt her tongue trail across his lip and granted her request, his own tongue sliding against hers. he could taste the Jack and beer on her lips and tongue, and it made him feel like he might actually be a bit more drunk than he had thought. The feeling of her lips and tongue moving against his, and her uneven breaths against his lips, her hands clutching at his shirt, and her body, instinctively, pressing harder into his was intoxicating. He felt his own breathing becoming ragged, despite the calm nature of the kiss. She noticed the change and seemed to simply get all the more worked up for it. However, after a few minutes, she pulled away, resting her forehead on his as she tried to control her breathing, Ethan doing the same.

"Finally," Palmer finally smiled. "Christ, that was definitely worth the wait."

Ethan smiled and kissed her again, not trusting himself to not sound like an idiot if he tried to speak. She settled back into the kiss and within a couple of seconds, both of them were right back to square one. Not that they minded. they continued to lay there, trading kisses off and on for hours before finally deciding to sleep. Palmer gave him one last kiss before setting her head down on his shoulder and closed her eyes, both of them slowly drifting off at last.

* * *

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	11. Chapter 11

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

* * *

Recalled

Ethan yawned, walking into the kitchen area where Palmer was cooking breakfast and wrapped his arms around her, kissing the side of her neck. She hummed appreciatively and tilted her head to the side. One of her hands reached back and came to rest on the back of his head and she leaned back into him as he began to gently twist in place slightly.

"You see?" Palmer asked. "It's so much better when it's not just teasing."

"I don't know," Ethan said, placing another kiss just below her ear, feeling her shudder against him slightly and grinning. "The teasing was half the fun."

His hands trailed up over her breasts before he pulled back, turning and walking out of the cabin. He grabbed a change of clothes and a towel on the way, then walked to the shower house, cleaning himself quickly, then brushing his teeth before heading back to the cabin just as Palmer finished setting everything on the table. She glared at him for a moment before sitting down and smirking.

"You're going to be even more of a handful now, aren't you?" she asked.

"I certainly hope so," Ethan grinned as she was raising a forkful of scrambled egg to her mouth, only for her to let her fork fall, her head doing the same as she sighed.

"Not what I meant," Palmer said.

"Why Sarah, whatever are you referring to?" Ethan grinned. "I just meant I'm going to be misbehaving and giving you a headache."

She glared at him. "Mhm. Sure you did." She took a bite of her food. "Just remember, if you want to play games, you're not the only one who likes to play."

"Good to know," he grinned, Palmer rolling her eyes.

"Again not what I meant."

"Mhm, sure you didn't," Ethan smirked.

Palmer flicked a piece of egg at him and he caught it in his mouth, grinning as she rolled her eyes again. They ate in relative piece after that, neither wasting any more of their food, then headed out into the woods for a run. They didn't have a very long list of things to do, and they didn't want to contract cabin fever, so they generally started every day by getting out of the cabin for a few hours for a race. Ethan grinned as he began to pull ahead of Palmer, both of them sprinting through the trees at close to thirty five miles per hour. he had to admit, being able to run that fast _was_ a pretty decent benefit of his upgrades. And having Maria around to keep him company was pretty nice too. And he was able to keep the things he held dear safe.

he snapped back to reality as he went to turn at the halfway point, a clearing in the woods with soft grass and a huge, gnarled tree in the center that had to be a thousand years old, only for his feet to slip out from under him, sending him bouncing and rolling across the ground a ways before coming to a stop. His head spun for several seconds, and when he was able to focus again, Palmer was just reaching his side.

"Ethan!" Palmer gasped. "Are you alright?"

He groaned, her face contorting even more with worry before he suddenly grabbed her and rolled, making her shriek in surprise as he pinned her to the ground, grinning. "I'm fine."

She sighed heavily. "You scared the shit out of me!" She smacked him on the chest as she said it, and he chuckled.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Will you forgive me?"

"No!" Palmer said.

"Suit yourself," he shrugged, beginning to tickle her, his right hand releasing tiny electrical shocks, just enough to stimulate her nerve endings even more, essentially making his right hand a tickling machine, as he did, a function Maria had come up with while he was sleeping last night.

That simple fact alone was enough to catch Palmer off guard so much that she was instantly squirming and laughing. He grinned, continuing to assault her sensitive ribs with his fingers, then under her arms, her neck, her armpits, her neck, her ribs. Palmer fought to try to push him off of herself but was too busy trying to block his hands from tickling her to be able to. Finally, Ethan relented and simply sat with his hands on the sides of her abdomen, thumbs gently stroking over her skin where her shirt had ridden up, and Palmer tried to catch her breath, her hands laying at her sides.

After another moment of watching her, Ethan leaned down, capturing her lips and feeling her sigh and submit to the kiss instantly. His hands drifted up her sides to her neck, then down her arms, his hands slipping into hers when they met. Palmer slipped her hands out of his, however, and reached down to the hem of his shirt, pulling it up. He sat up and pulled it over his head, dropping it beside him in the grass and leaned back down, reattaching his lips to hers, their tongues meeting instantly. His hands slid up her sides again, this time moving to her chest and beginning to knead her breasts through her shirt. As he had noticed that morning when he had drifted his hands over them to tease her, she wasn't wearing a bra, so her nipples began to poke into his palms after a few seconds. She pushed him away just long enough to sit up and pull her own shirt off before his mouth rejoined hers, their tongues once again sliding against one another's as his hands once again began to knead her globes, this time pinching her stiff nipples between his index and middle fingers each time, tugging and rolling them lightly, making her moan and arch her back, pressing her breasts into his hands harder.

Ethan obliged her request, massaging her breasts more firmly, reveling in everything she was. However, just as his right hand began to slide downward, making it as far as the waistband of her shorts, her communicator began to beep in her pocket. He paused, but she shifted her hips up into him, urging him to continue, and he did so, ignoring the shrill beeping. Just as he slipped his hand into her shorts, she dug the communicator out of her pocket and declined the call, then dropped it on the ground. Ethan smiled, beginning to trail his fingers through her slit just as he activated the tiny shocks again, for a completely different reason this time. Palmer moaned deeply as she felt the stimulation against her clit and rocked her hips against his hand, tilting her head back. He began to kiss her neck, but just as he did, Roland appeared over the communicator.

"Commander we need-Oh shit!" he turned away instantly and Ethan sighed, pulling back from Palmer's neck, but continued to rub her clit.

"The rest of Infinity's bridge better not be seeing this," Ethan said.

"No, I called the communicator personally," Roland said.

"Good," Ethan said. "We're busy. What do you need?"

"We've been ordered back to Requiem to research the Forerunner technology there," Roland reported.

"Great, we'll be back whenever we get around to it," Ethan said.

"Orders are tomorrow morning," Roland said.

"And I'm going to show up until I feel like it," Ethan said. "And I'm holding Commander Palmer hostage, so she's a bit too busy to get there in time."

"Understood," Roland said. "Sorry for interrupting."

Then, he was gone. Ethan shook his head and returned to kissing Palmer's neck, sliding his hand down further and pushing his middle finger into her, his thumb circling her clit rapidly. Palmer cried out in pleasure, hips beginning to rock against his hand in time with his thrusts, and after a few minutes, a second finger joined the first. He began to speed his fingers up and Palmer's hips matched his speed as her face began to screw up, her muscles beginning to coil up beneath him. He smiled, moving up and kissing her just as she broke, her cry of pleasure muffled by his tongue wrestling with her own as she bucked and shook beneath him, her insides spasming and clenching around his fingers. After a few seconds of continuing his relentless fingering, he began to slowly ease her back down. Then, as he slipped his fingers out of her, he quickly slipped her shorts and underwear off of her. However, just as he was about to move down to taste her, she flipped them, quickly freeing him of the last of his own clothes and straddling him.

He opened his mouth to speak, only for her to mash her lips to his in a sloppy, hungry kiss. She began to lower herself onto his member and he groaned, hands moving to her hips but refraining from forcing her downward. After a moment she had settled onto him completely and she moaned, rocking her hips a few times before beginning to bounce, riding him quickly instantly, making no effort to keep her pace slow or controlled. Ethan thrust up into her in time with her drops, pulling her down onto him each time to heighten her pleasure and she sat up, tilting her head back and crying out in pleasure. He continued to allow her to ride him for several minutes before rolling her over and taking over, thrusting into her rapidly, pounding her tight tunnel relentlessly and rapidly driving her further and further toward a second orgasm. After a few minutes, however, she pushed him back, forcing him out of her, only to roll over and get on all fours. He thrust into her again, pulling her back into him with each thrust and she cried out even louder as he reached even deeper into her than before. However, he could feel himself starting to slip. He wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. He fought to resist, trying to remember anything and everything that could distract him, but it wasn't working. So instead, he settled for reaching down between her legs with his right hand and beginning to quickly rub her clit, his right hand once again using electricity to stimulate her nerve endings. She cried out and her hips bucked back against him frantically, her insides quivering. Then, within a matter of seconds thanks to his right arm, she snapped again, crying out as she came, squirting around his dick and thrusting backward so hard she knocked him onto his back again, following to keep him firmly inside of him before she began to bounce her hips frantically, extending her own orgasm at the same time as rapidly forcing him over the edge as well. He groaned, thrusting up into her several times in quick succession before breaking, yanking her down onto him as the dam burst and he began tp pump semen deep inside of her, thrusting several times, each thrust sending another shot of cum into her. Finally, he was spent and she lifted up off of him, turning and laying down on top of him, sighing and slipping her hand into his.

"You probably shouldn't have done that," she said after a few minutes of both recovering.

"Sorry," Ethan said. "I wasn't thinking."

"It's alright," Palmer said. "That felt amazing, so I'm definitely not mad. But we'll have to be more careful from now on."

Ethan nodded. "Alright. We should probably get back. We're going to be late as it is."

"You mean _you're_ going to be late," Palmer said. "I'm just the hostage that you're sexually assaulting."

"Oh yes, because you so clearly hated it," Ethan snorted.

"Oh I did," Palmer nodded. "Worst fuck of my life."

She kissed him for several seconds before beginning to get dressed. He watched her for a moment before frowning.

"Wait, was I?" Ethan asked.

Palmer smirked and winked, pulling her shoes on and taking off back toward the cabin.

"Hey!" Ethan called after her. "Sarah! No fair!" He quickly got dressed as well and chased after her, catching back up outside the cabin and catching her, skidding to a stop and spinning her around, pinning her against him. "Caught you."

She smiled, kissing him quickly before pulling back and trying futilely to escape his grasp. "Let me go!"

"Not until you tell me," Ethan said.

Palmer laughed. "No way! I like seeing you get insecure and paranoid." She tried to pry his left arm off, but even after she did, his right simply reached around her further, pinning her against him even tighter.

"Sarah," Ethan said.

She laughed, pushing against his chest uselessly until her communicator began to beep again and sighed. He released her and she took it out, activating the hologram, finding that it was Lasky this time.

"Commander Palmer," Lasky said. "I was just checking in. Are you two going to be able to make it back on time?"

"Most likely not, but we'll try," Palmer said. "We're in the middle of nowhere and we have to drive to get to our Pelican."

"That's alright," Lasky said, smirking knowingly. "I think if I inspect the engine room it'll be having some trouble. Might take a few days to fix."

"Oh, I doubt that," Palmer smirked. "Probably only a few hours at most."

Lasky nodded. "Should be fixed whenever you get back, at any rate."

Palmer nodded and disconnected. "He's going to be making jokes."

"Tons of them," Ethan nodded. "So will Roland."

"True," Palmer nodded. "Anyway, I'm going to go get cleaned up. I'll be back in a bit."

She turned and walked toward the shower house, not bothering with a towel or clean clothes, and he smirked, shaking his head. He was going to enjoy his near future. He could tell. He walked into the cabin, grabbing them both a towel, and himself a pair of boxers, then headed for the shower house to join her.

* * *

Ethan sat down on a crate in the loading bay of the Infinity and began to tamper with his latest project, several portable shield projectors that could be given to Marines, and Lasky especially, to protect them from Covenant fire so that they survived longer and didn't have to rely on Spartans as often, and also a Hardlight shield projector he had swiped from the science team, who had had about twenty of them, and who had yet to notice it was missing. The harldight shield it formed was a door-sized shield that would appear in front of him. Useful, but imperfect. He was hoping to make his armor's shields Hardlight, that way they would stand up to Promethean gunfire better than a single shot, and also the shields he was going to give to the marines, but so far he'd been unsuccessful. He _had_ managed to strengthen his shields, but not as much as he'd like. Eventually he shrugged, setting the Hardlight shield projector down and began to work on the other, normal shield systems, adapting them to be self-sustaining.

He glanced up as a team of Spartans, ones that Maria identified as Fireteam Majestic, walked onto the ship. They looked like a half-decent mix. One girl, one black guy, three white guys. Two cocky, one neutral, and the black guy and girl were both confident. Palmer walked toward them and the fireteam's leader stepped forward, putting on a charming smile.

"Hi there," he smiled.

"Well hello, Spartan..." Palmer played along, Ethan grinning knowingly, already able to tell she didn't like his attitude.

Neither did Ethan, but Palmer definitely didn't need him to defend her honor. She could do that just fine on her own.

"Paul Demarco," he introduced himself. "I lead Fireteam Majestic."

"Wow," she said, taking a step closer, voice beginning to be laced with sarcasm, though he didn't seem to catch it. "A whole Fireteam, huh?"

"Uh, I didn't catch your name?" he prompted.

"Sarah Palmer," she smirked, then became serious. "Commander, Sarah Palmer. I lead all the Fireteams aboard Infinity."

Demarco's eyes practically popped out of his skull and he instantly stepped back into line. "Fireteam Majestic, Commander on deck!"

All five instantly went to attention and saluted. Ethan grinned, able to read Demarco's racing pulse and rapid-firing brainwaves from across the room. He terrified. The black guy chuckled quietly as they saluted and Palmer stared at Demarco for a moment.

"At ease Spartans," she finally said, walking down the line, inspecting them for a moment before turning and walking the other way. "Follow me. S-deck is this way."

As they turned to follow her, the black guy chuckled again, less quietly and more mockingly this time. Ethan grinned and Palmer caught his eye, smirking and making a finger pistol before nodding to Demarco. Ethan's grin grew. Permission to train with him. They headed toward the door to the elevator bay, which Ethan was sitting next to, and as they passed, Palmer leaned down and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Once they're done processing, they're all yours," she grinned, continuing.

Ethan grinned wider. "Oh I can't wait." He locked eyes with Demarco, who swallowed hard, terrified he had stepped on Ethan's toes. "I'll be seeing you for pugil sticks later hotshot."

Demarco averted his eyes instantly and Majestic passed him, Ethan grinning as the black one again laughed at Demarco. Ethan liked them. They seemed like a fun team. Not overly disciplined, and probably not the best in the field, since two fifths of them seemed like they might be more showboat than soldier, but they seemed fun.

* * *

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	12. Chapter 12

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

* * *

In Their Place

Ethan smiled, resting his pugil stick on his shoulder as Demarco twirled his, already seeming to be showboating for Palmer, who was watching from the sideline. Demarco glanced at her, seeing her smiling in amusement.

"You should be paying more attention Demarco," Palmer said. "Ethan is the top-ranked fighter on Infinity. It was under debate for the brief amount of time that Master Chief was aboard, but there wasn't time to settle the matter."

"No way!" Demarco said. "I heard he wasn't even a Spartan. I heard his armor's really just the plating and body suit, it's just for show and has a shield module strapped to the back to keep him alive."

"That's true," Ethan said. "I'm not a Spartan. Never have been, never will be. And I wasn't part of the ORION Project either. And I'm not the child of an ORION candidate."

"See?" Demarco smirked. "Just a really big dude, in really heavy armor."

"That's a lot of confidence despite my warning, Demarco," Palmer said. "It's almost like you don't believe me. Alright, if you're sure you'll win, fancy a wager?"

"Sure, I'm game," Demarco said.

"Apparently not too bright though," Palmer said, the rest of Majestic laughing in the observation room. "Okay, the wager is this. Win the match, and I'll let you fuck me tonight. I'm sure I can manage to work fifteen minutes of a waste of time into my schedule."

"Wha...are you serious?" Demarco gaped. "You'd bet sex?"

"Why not?" Palmer asked. "It's what you want, right?"

Demarco wasn't quite sure how to respond, glancing at Ethan, who was still wearing his calm, confident, borderline serene smile.

"Don't look at me," Ethan shrugged. "What the Commander does with her body is up to her. Besides, you'll fight better if you have something worth fighting for as motivation."

"Beg talk," Demarco said. "What happens if I lose?"

"You have to kiss a hinge-head," Palmer smirked. "On the mouth. Don't worry, though. We'll make sure it's dead first. Most likely."

Majestic began to hoot and whistle and Demarco's face darkened a little before he nodded.

"Alright, sure," Demarco nodded. "You're on. But don't count on it lasting fifteen minutes. I like to take my time and enjoy the moment, if you know what I mean."

"Oh, I _do_ know what you mean," Palmer smirked. "And I am the furthest thing from worried. Ethan."

"The match goes to twenty one," Ethan said, pulling his helmet on. "I'll let you make the first move."

"Why twenty one?" Demarco asked.

"Because," Ethan smirked. "Maybe that way you'll have time to score at least one point."

Demarco growled in annoyance and readied himself before charging. Ethan smiled, waiting until the last second before sidestepping Demarco's swipe before swinging his own staff around and down into the side of Demarco's helmet, sending him bouncing off the floor. Majestic went wild. Then, the Spartans Ethan had given upgraded weapons to, now officially making up Fireteam Crimson, stepped up to the window to watch. Ethan smiled as Demarco stood, shaking his arms to loosen them, then shaking his head.

"Yeah, there you go," Ethan smirked. "Loosen up. I'm sure that'll make a huge difference."

Demarco unleashed a war cry and charged, pugil stick raised, only for Ethan to twist his upper body, his own stick swinging up from below Demarco, catching the underside of his helmet on the way up and hurling him backward. He crashed to the ground on his back and groaned. Ethan sighed, letting his staff swing down onto his shoulder again.

"I think I misjudged you Demarco," Ethan said. "Do you need the score to go to a hundred instead?"

"Shut up!" Demarco snapped, shoving himself to his feet and pulling his staff back, only for the end of Ethan's to crash into his helmet in a solid one-handed jab, hurling Demarco away again.

"You know, you could at least _try_ to make this fun for me," Ethan said. "It's the least you can do after you insulted, and hit on, my girlfriend, both in front of me. I mean really. What possessed you to think a womanizing prick like you was worthy of her?"

"What, and you are?" Demarco asked, standing.

"No," Ethan said. "Not even remotely. I just happen to be the one she decided to bless with her favor. But you? You'd have more luck trying to seduce the Arbiter himself. And by the time I'm done with you, you'd probably prefer to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Demarco asked.

"It means, greenhorn, that your ass is mine until we reach Requiem, which is a full week and a half away," Ethan smirked. "You and your entire Fireteam are about to pay for your arrogance, because I'm the one Captain Lasky put in charge of training the Spartans on this ship."

Above them, Majestic all groaned miserably, but Demarco didn't respond, but Ethan grinned as his sensors registered the sharp spike in his heartrate. Ethan held up his free hand and beckoned Demarco forward. Demarco hesitated a moment before charging, swiping rapidly at Ethan, desperately trying to win. Ethan grinned. better. he deflected and dodged Demarco's strikes quickly, fending him off as easily as ever, but allowing him to try anyway. However, after a minute, Demarco's strikes began to slow and Ethan drilled the end of his staff into the center of Demarco's chest again, hurling him. Demarco shoved himself up and tried again, and again Ethan beat him in seconds. This time, Demarco landed facing away, so as he shoved himself up and spun, he was surprised when Ethan's airborne staff crashed into his chest. Ethan caught it as it fell , mid-charge, and slammed it into Demarco's helmet as he was standing, flipping him backward and knocking him unconscious. He sighed, walking away from Demarco, shaking his head. He had expected better.

he heard Demarco's footfalls behind him, his ragged breathing. Then, he leaned to the side, avoiding Demarco's staff before swiping backward and smashing his own staff into Demarco's groin before spinning and swinging it like a baseball bat into Demarco's side, sending him bouncing and rolling across the room into the wall. Demarco groaned and began to stand unsteadily as Ethan flicked Demarco's staff off the ground with the toe of his boot, catching it in the crook of his ankle before kicking and tossing it to Demarco, who caught it and used it to stand. Ethan smirked. At least he didn't give up.

* * *

Ethan sighed, leaning against the pillar as Demarco walked past him, facing the other way, again. That was five, and this was the last point Ethan needed to win, not having been hit with sticky paint a single time yet. In fact, all the way through pugil sticks, hand-to-hand combat, and now sticky paint, Demarco had yet to score a single point. Ethan sighed, stepping out behind Demarco, and Demarco spun as his motion tracker lit up, only for Ethan to drop into a crouch, Demarco's shot passing over him before Ethan shot him between the legs, then in the helmet. Demarco fell to the ground and Ethan walked over to the table and cleared out his pistol, setting it on the table with the ammo, then doing the same for the pistol he had taken from Demarco.

He turned and walked back to Demarco as the pillars sank into the floor and knelt.

"Well Demarco, you failed miserably," Ethan said. "I gotta say, you're probably the most disappointing match I've ever had." he chipped a piece of sticky paint off of Demarco's visor with his right hand so that Demarco could see. "And you lost the wager, which means, the next time you see a dead Elite, you better pray you have breath mints on you."

"Majestic, come get you team leader, and thank him for your training schedule for the next week and a half," Palmer said.

Majestic walked into the room after a few minutes and picked up Demarco. One of the three white guys, the only one of the three with a high-and-tight rather than being bald, walked over, stopping in front of Ethan and looking back at Demarco.

"He definitely deserved what he got," the guy said. "But even so, I apologize on his behalf."

"Sucking up isn't going to do you any favors," Ethan said.

"I know, sir," the guy said. "And I'm not trying to suck up, or get out of anything. We need the training. I only recently became a Spartan, and Demarco is...well...Demarco. if Requiem is everything I've heard, we need all the training we can get. And you're the best, or so I've heard. I was talking with Crimson and they say you beat all of them, along with Commander Palmer, all at once. Several times. I've heard rumors about Halsey's last experiment, right before she was locked up. Rumors like that tend to get around, if you know how to listen. Personally, I don't care about rumors. You're an amazing fighter, and you can probably keep us alive on Requiem. That's good enough for me."

"What's your name?" Ethan asked.

"Spartan Thorne, sir," Thorne said, saluting.

"Well Thorne, the first thing you should know, is that the experiment you just mentioned is classified _above_ Top Secret, so if you mention is again, you'll have to be arrested," Ethan said. "Secondly, I'm not a Spartan, so you don't have to call me Sir, or salute me. And lastly, I like you. Watch your back on Requiem. If you make it through your first mission without taking a hit, I'll supply your drinks for the rest of the time we're on Requiem, and I'll give you a Hardlight weapon."

"You have Hardlight weapons?" Thorne asked.

"Kid, I _make_ Hardlight weapons," Ethan smirked. "It's entirely illegal, and myself, Commander palmer, captain Lasky, Master Chief, and all of Fireteam Crimson have reaped the benefits of my work."

He turned, walking away from Thorne and out of the room with Palmer, who smirked at him.

"You're giving him a Hardlight weapon regardless of how he does, aren't you?" she asked.

"If he survives, yup," Ethan nodded. "Now, about you betting your body."

"Did I have any reason to be worried?" Palmer asked.

"Of course not, but that's something you just don't bet," Ethan said.

Palmer sighed. "Alright. I'm sorry."

"Thank you," Ethan said, giving her a quick kiss. "But thank you for your vote of confidence."

Palmer smiled. "You're welcome. Whip 'em into shape, alright?" She smiled back at him as she walked away.

"Of course," Ethan smiled, just as Crimson and Majestic entered the hallway from the observation room, Demarco newly freed of sticky pain. "Alright Spartans, who's ready to train until they drop?"

Crimson cheered, Majestic responded with "Yes Sir!"s, and Demarco groaned.

"I like it, Demarco," Ethan smirked. "That's the spirit. Majestic, look to your Team leader."

They all looked.

"Now say thank you Demarco," Ethan said. "He's just earned you all two extra laps on our ship tour."

"Thank you Demarco," they all said, none of them happy, but only Thorne not sounding outright angry.

"Fall in Spartans," Ethan said. "Let's get this tour started."

The Spartans formed to lines, Crimson on the left and Majestic on the right. Then, they began to jog. Ethan kept it slow, knowing better than to run fast, given a single lap was fifteen miles. To a Spartan out of armor, it was the equivalent of the average human's three miles for difficulty. However, Demarco seemed determined to seal their fate.

"If this is the speed, this run will be simple," Demarco said.

The other bald white member of Majestic smacked Demarco in the back of the head, but it was too late. Crimson all sighed and Ethan smiled.

"Majestic, thank your Team Leader," Ethan said.

They did so and Ethan began to run at an unarmored Spartan's sprint, Crimson keeping up, barely, and Majestic slowly catching up after the initial surprise. Ethan headed directly to the armor bay first, and he and Demarco got their armor off. Then, they began to run again, this time everyone sprinting since none had armor on, and began their death run in earnest.

* * *

Leave a review.


	13. Chapter 13

I do not own Halo or any of the characters. It just occurred to me that it's also a few hours at most between Earth and Requiem using Slipspace. Oops. Yolo.

* * *

Cracking the Whip

Ethan walked along behind the Spartans of Majestic and Crimson as they fired at the virtual Flood charging at them. With two full fire teams, they should theoretically be able to survive the simulation, considering it was only set to half the real difficulty. After Requiem, and after master Chief had retired, he had agreed to allow his memories of the Flood to be scanned for the training simulation, and now, the difficulty was even higher that it had been before Requiem, a fact that Ethan frequently took advantage of to train himself, and that Palmer sometimes also took advantage of to train with him. However, at half difficulty, Crimson and Majestic were struggling. Crimson, having been trained extensively by Ethan already, were tight and efficient. Unfortunately, they were struggling to make up for Majestic's lack of Ethan-style training, and exhaustion, resulting in the Spartans slowly losing.

After the first lap of their run earlier that day, Crimson had been allowed to get breakfast. Majestic had gone for two more laps, resulting all of them to be about ready to drop by the end. They were allowed time to eat and get cleaned up after that, then an hour later, they were suited up in the training room, where they had been for the last three hours running stun-round simulations. They had made it through a battle against exclusively Elites, had barely survived one against fifty percent hunters and fifty percent Elites, and had done well enough to pass against Prometheans on the hardest difficulty, which was harder than real life. Now, they were fighting Flood, since Flood spawned faster and moved in less regular patterns.

Ethan reached over to Crimson's second-in-command's rifle, catching the lever with his right hand and forcing a misfire, then continued, Crimson seamlessly covering his sector of the battlefield as well while he corrected the problem, then reintegrated him just as seamlessly. He did the same with another member of Crimson, and the members around him reacted just as well as the last time. Neither of the corrections lasted more than five seconds. Ethan walked over to Majestic and stopped DeMarco's rifle from firing and he swore loudly, dropping back and fumbling for a second before beginning to struggle to correct the misfire. In this case, his had caused a double-feed, a situation in which two rounds try to enter the barrel at the same time. As he struggled to fix the misfire, taking much longer than five seconds, Majestic failed to realize his gun was still down, and didn't cover his sector. Crimson, on the other hand, did, and the second-in-command shouted for covering fire, then moved over to DeMarco, taking the rifle and shoving his own into his hands, then rapidly fixed the misfire as he moved back to his own spot in the line, returning to firing with DeMarco's weapon instead, actually managing to beat his own personal record for remedial procedure drills by fixing the weapon in just under two seconds. Finally, the simulation ended and Crimson turned, awaiting orders, as he had trained them to.

"At ease Crimson," Ethan said. "Jason, you continue to impress. You just broke your own record fixing _someone else's_ rifle. Well done."

"Thank you, sir," Jason said.

"DeMarco, since he had to fix your problem, you're cleaning both his rifle and yours after training today, and I'm going to be inspecting them personally, so you'd better make sure you do well," Ethan turned to speak to the rest of Majestic, but DeMarco seemed to have something to say, as usual.

"That's bullshit!" DeMarco said. "You _forced_ a jam! I've never had a jam in my entire time in the military! Let alone as a Spartan!"

"So you're saying they don't happen?" Ethan asked.

"Not if you keep your rifle clean," DeMarco said.

"Jason, how often do you clean your rifle?" Ethan asked.

"Once a day," Jason responded.

"Inspected by?" Ethan asked.

"Myself, then you, then Commander palmer, sir," Jason listed.

"And how many times has your rifle jammed during a real firefight?" Ethan asked.

"Six sir," Jason said. "Five on Requiem and one during the factory raid before it."

"Hm," Ethan said. "Strange. That's a staggeringly high number of misfires by DeMarco's standards. Who else has been on the shitty end of a misfire?"

All of Crimson's hands rose, as did Thorne's. Ethan raised an eyebrow.

"How many?"

"Two sir," Thorne said. "One because of a loose screw on the bolt and one brass over bolt."

"Fighting the Covenant?" Ethan asked.

"Yes sir," Thorne nodded.

"I see," Ethan nodded. "Well, you're alive, so you clearly know what you're doing. Maria, bring up my favorite. Thorne only."

The lights darkened and grunts began to swarm out of the darkness, all with plasma grenades in their hands. Thorne began to fire, rapidly dropping the grunts, the grenades helping stem the tide, up until Ethan forced a misfire. Thorne instantly yanked the mag out and slammed it into the gun's lever, yanking it back hard and launching the extra round out, the other chambering with the bolt went forward, then slammed the mag in and began to spray before he even had his forward hand on the rifle again, returning to killing grunts almost as seamlessly as a member of Crimson. Almost. Ethan nodded approvingly and Maria ended the simulation.

"Well, at least _someone_ in Majestic knows how to work their rifle," Ethan said. "DeMarco, you're quickly proving yourself to be less than competent as a Spartan, much less a team leader."

"At least I actually show up for training," DeMarco muttered, Madsen, the other bald white guy and Majestic's second-in-command, smacking him in the back of the head, since their armor protected his foot from stomping.

"What was that?" Ethan asked. "Do you have something _else_ to say, DeMarco?"

"Actually, yes," DeMarco said. "All of Majestic is present. But the highest billet present from Crimson is the _assistant_ team leader. I may not be the best, but at least I'm here for the training."

Ethan watched DeMarco in silence for several long seconds before walking over to the ammo table and picking up a pair of pistols before walking out in front of the Spartans. "Crimson, fall in on your team leader."

Crimson formed a line to either side of him instantly, Madsen smacking DeMarco again, followed by Grant, the female. Hoya, the black one, sighed, and Thorne remained silent.

"Maria, thirty two, max difficulty," Ethan said.

All of Crimson shuddered before turning to face outboard as a barrier appeared around each member of Majestic, then the lights went out. All of the members of Crimson activated their rifles' flashlights, and Ethan activated the light on both pistols. Then, Flood, Elites, Grunts, Jackals, Prometheans, and Hunters began to swarm them from all sides. And they were slaughtered. Crimson had run this completely randomized training simulation dozens of times, and had only successfully passed once. Even with Ethan. This time, they lasted for twenty minutes, never once moving from where they were, avoiding shots by ducking any time someone warned them to, slaughtering any and every Flood creature that their light found. Each time Ethan had to reload, he did so by throwing the pistol into the air long enough to get the next mag into his other hand's fingers, then slamming it in before spreading his arms again.

Finally, they finished the simulation for the second time ever and the lights came back on, all of Crimson cheering instantly, even Ethan. That had been better than their last victory. That time, only Jason was left, Ethan having been taken out too. This time, they lost no one. Ethan sighed, spinning his right pistol around his finger as the shields around Majestic deactivated.

"Anything _else_ to say about me not showing up for training DeMarco?" Ethan asked. "Or, maybe, you all would like to try that one? Tell you what, you like betting, so I'll make you another wager. If even a single member of Majestic can last five minutes during that drill within five attempts, I'll let you do whatever you want until we reach Requiem. _You_ can even train _me_. But _when_ you fail, you will run tour around Infinity until _I_ get tired. And I'm not going to be running it with you."

DeMarco was silent for a long moment before opening his mouth, only for Thorne to cover it.

"How many times has Crimson done that simulation, sir?" Thorne asked.

"Fifty...five?" Ethan said.

"Fifty eight," Maria said, appearing on a projector off to the side.

"Yes," Ethan said. "Fifty eight."

"And how many times have they succeeded?" Grant asked.

"I'm glad you asked," Ethan said. "You two are officially my favorite members of Majestic. Crimson has successfully completed that simulation twice, including the one you just saw. Not consecutively."

DeMarco paled.

"Still want to try to be a tough guy DeMarco?" Ethan asked. "Or do you want to fall in line, shut your mouth, and keep training so that maybe you can keep your team alive when it's not stun rounds anymore?"

DeMarco nodded. "I'll keep training."

"Good," Ethan said. "Now-"

"Sir, permission to speak?" Thorne spoke up.

"Granted," Ethan said.

"You told me before that I didn't have to call you sir, but Crimson does it," Ethan said. "Is it because you're their team leader? Or is it a double-standard? No offense."

Ethan chuckled. "You're fine. They _do_ have a tendency of making me seem like a hypocrite with that. No, I've told them a million times not to call me sir, but they just keep doing it."

"We call him sir out of respect," Jason said. "The last time we were on Requiem, we were treating him like he was an intruder, calling him a freak behind his back, and to his face, making life hell for him. But despite that, he saved all of our lives many times over on Requiem, and also wiped out as many Covies and Prometheans as Master Chief. The former Captain of the Infinity, Del Rio, tried to send us into one particular mission, a blow-through op, without any kind of recon. So as soon as Captain Del Rio disconnected, our team leader used his specialized gear to do on-the-spot recon of the area we were going into. Come to find out, we were about to fight an entire Covenant battalion without knowing it, including multiple wraiths, ghosts, Shade turrets, and a couple of phantoms."

"And a Lich," Amelia, Jason's chosen successor on Crimson, added.

"And a Lich," Jason nodded. "During that firefight, we didn't lose a single Marine, barring three Pelicans that got shot down, and we ended up fighting about two squads of Covies, mostly jackals and grunts. Master Chief and Ethan slaughtered the rest. Using a warthog and its turret."

"That sounds like both boot-licking, and an exaggeration," DeMarco said.

Maria held out a hand, looking annoyed, and a small hologram recording of Ethan driving through the covenant forces and killing them with the warthog while master Chief killed more with the turret played for a few seconds before disappearing.

"Jesus," Hoya, the black member of Majestic said. "What's your kill count...sir?"

"Not much," Ethan said.

"Three thousand two hundred twenty," Maria said. "It was almost twenty one, but that bastard decided to smarten up one screamed order too soon."

"Maria," Ethan said.

"What?" Maria asked. "_You're_ thinking it."

"Maria!" Ethan snapped, before calming himself. "That's enough. You're dismissed."

"I'm sorry," Maria said quietly before disappearing from the projector.

Crimson remained silent and didn't react, while Majestic looked around at each other in confusion.

"Sorry about that," Ethan said. "Where were we?"

"Training, sir," Frank, Crimson's sniper, said.

"Right, thank you Frank," Ethan said. "Majestic, misfire drills until you're all at least as good as Thorne. Crimson, you're all dismissed for the next two hours. be back in time for hand-to-hand drills."

Crimson saluted nd all left the room.

* * *

Ethan sighed, sitting down heavily and resting his face in his hands. He hadn't mean to snap at Maria, but she was right. He _had_ been thinking it, and it infuriated him that he still held such a grudge. And thinking about Del Rio at all infuriated him. And Maria had been getting too close to saying what their true connection was.

"I'm sorry, Ethan," Maria said. "I should have listened."

"It's alright, Maria," Ethan said. "It's in the past. I'm sorry I snapped at you. I shouldn't have."

"Are we still friends?" Maria asked.

"Of course," Ethan smiled. "Kind of hard not to be, all things considered."

"That's true," Maria smiled, then disappeared just before palmer walked in.

"Are you alright?" Palmer asked. "I heard you and Maria had an incident during training."

"I lost my temper and she almost slipped up about the nature of our partnership," Ethan said. "It's been addressed."

Palmer nodded, sitting beside him on the bed. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Ethan smiled. "I'm alright. Dealing with DeMarco is just tiring is all."

"Why do you think I dumped him on you?" Palmer smirked.

"Oh is _that_ how it is?" Ethan grinned. "Well in that case, I think you owe me."

Palmer smiled and turned, swinging a leg over him to sit in his lap. "Well, let me make it up to you then."

Ethan smiled and reached up, capturing her lips with his own.

* * *

Ethan watched as Crimson obliterated Majestic in sticky paint simulations over and over again. Majestic wasn't terrible at teamwork, but they were still sloppy. Crimson worked like a well-oiled machine due to having been drilled endlessly by Ethan, usually going _a__gainst_ Ethan. Majestic was running on empty from the daily ruins that they weren't used to, and from Ethan trying to whip them into shape as fast as he could. Finally, Ethan called the training event, Crimson winning with a unanimous score, only Erin, Crimson's heavy ordinance expert, and Amelia's girlfriend, having been taken down, and that only once because Thorne used himself as a distraction to try and earn the rest of Majestic a chance to take Crimson down. Instead, Grant had managed to hit Erin, and then Jason and Frank had finished their flanking maneuver that Majestic hadn't even known they were doing and quickly mopped up the entirety of Majestic from the side.

"Good work Crimson," Ethan said. "Thorne, Grant, I'll give the pair of you credit for scoring your team's _only_ hit in twenty matches, however, starting now, I strictly forbid any self-sacrifice, kamikaze, or other needlessly risky strategies."

"With respect, sir, I would say that when we're so completely outclassed and outmatched, strategies like that become necessary," Thorne said.

"You have a point," Ethan said. "However, necessary means that you have absolutely no options left. You _did_, in fact, have options left. You could have tried flanking Crimson, like Frank and Jason did to you. or you could have tried holding your ground. You would have lost if you held your ground, but it _was_ an option. I understand that there are times when sacrifice is absolutely necessary, and that not every firefight has everyone walking away, but don't be so quick to throw your life away. Sacrifice may be necessary sometimes, but it's not something to be suggested lightly, nor is it something to be smiled upon. As such, I forbid any strategies that would sacrifice a member of Majestic. Not until the absolute last resort, when the only other option is to all die, but the sacrifice will save all of the others."

"You don't command Majestic in the field," Demarcus said. "I do."

"Jesus, Demarcus!" Hoya groaned. "Just shut the fuck up for once! He's literally the best fighter on the ship! He's so good they don't know if he would lose to _John one-one-seven_! I think he knows what he's talking about!"

"It's alright, Hoya," Ethan said. "You're right, DeMarco. I _don't_ command Majestic in the field. I command Crimson. However, even though I act in the capacity of Crimson's team leader, I am _also_ acting in the capacity of Assistant Spartan Commander aboard the Infinity. My orders supersede your own. _Even_ in the field. If you have a problem with my opinion of sacrifices, bring it up with Commander Palmer. I promise you you'll get a similar response from her."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot," DeMarco grumbled. "Your bitch girlfriend's got a high enough billet to just agree with whatever bullshit orders you give."

Ethan snapped, spinning and moving to beat the attitude out of DeMarco, only for all of Crimson to grab him, struggling to hold him back. Then, Thorne's fist crashed into DeMarco's jaw,, knocking him to the ground and snapping Ethan out of his rage. he took a long, slow breath and nodded, Crimson releasing him carefully, all remaining ready to stop him again if necessary.

"Thank you, Crimson," Ethan said. "That could have gotten...complicated."

"You shut the fuck up!" Thorne was saying, to DeMarco, right hand holding a finger in DeMarco's face. "You have done nothing but cause us trouble by trying to prove your dick is bigger than Ethan's, but guess what!? It's not! Ethan has the biggest dick on the ship, and the more you try to prove he doesn't the more the rest of us get fucked! So just shut the fuck up, fall in line, and stop making _our_ lives hell! And don't you _ever_ talk about his relationship with the Commander again! That is _none_ of your business, and I am _not_ going to get fucked for it just because you can't keep your goddamn mouth shut about it! This whole thing started because you couldn't keep your mouth shut to her, even _after_ finding out that she was both our _commanding officer_, and _taken_!"

"He's right, DeMarco," Hoya said. "That's low. And completely untrue. Anyone who pays attention for more than a second knows that their relationship has _nothing_ to do with their job or orders. And if I have to run one more goddamn triple tour for you, I'm going to beat you until you can't walk, then run tour all day _with_ you."

"Stand down, Spartans," Ethan said, Thorne and Hoya stepping away from DeMarco, who pushed himself up. "DeMarco, it's become apparent that you are unfit for command. So I'm going to give you one final chance. You're either going to fall in line like a good little soldier, or you'll be removed from your command, and I'll have you off of this ship. And believe me, I can. I have a direct line to FLEETCOM, ONI, and SPARTAN's top brass. Test me again, and you'll find yourself dropped off at the nearest station in the middle of nowhere on our way to Requiem."

DeMarco glared at him for several moments before responding. "Aye Sir."

"Better," Ethan said. "For your punishment for that crack earlier. Majestic, thank DeMarco."

They all restrained their reactions, and thanked him.

"DeMarco will now officially be cleaning all of your weapons after every day of training," Ethan said. "And will be running your tours for you."

DeMarco's eyes widened. That was seventy five miles. Every day. Even for a Spartan, that was suicide. maybe literally.

"Sir," Thorne said, Ethan turning to him. "All due respect, but I'd prefer to run my own tour."

"As would I, Sir," Grant said.

"Same, Sir," Hoya said.

Madsen nodded and Ethan smiled. Good. They were learning.

"Very well," Ethan said. "You will all run your own tours in the morning. At night, DeMarco, you and I will run an extra tour together. Just you and me."

DeMarco swallowed hard but nodded. "Aye Sir."

"Good," Ethan said. "Now, time for hand-to-hand grudge matches."

The pillars sank into the floor and the matches began. Hoya and Frank had a running competition that they continued, their results fairly even, as Hoya was Majestic's best at hand-to-hand, Erin called out Grant as repayment for shooting her earlier, Jason called out Madsen, Amelia called out Thorne, and then DeMarco called out Thorne. Ethan frowned. He was _not_ learning. Not well, anyway. It would be a very long trip, at this rate.

* * *

Leave a review.


	14. Chapter 14

I do not own Halo or any of the characters. It just occurred to me that it's only a few hours at most between Earth and Requiem using Slipspace. Oops. Yolo.

* * *

Arrival

Ethan stepped out of the shower and sighed. He was getting tired of running with DeMarco. DeMarco _had_ fallen in line fairly well, and was starting to act like a decent leader, finally, but Majestic was still struggling to work together properly. Ethan opened the door to his room and stopped, seeing Palmer sitting on his bed, reading on her data pad. She looked up at him and smiled.

"How was your run?" she asked.

"Faster than I wanted," Ethan said.

"DeMarco say something stupid again?" she asked.

"No, but I really didn't want to have to be around him today," Ethan said, sitting beside her on the bed, then pulling her over to sit in his lap.

She leaned back against him, tilting her head to the side against his. "So, when are you going to take me hostage and go AWOL?"

"Probably after we get to Requiem," Ethan said. "What're you reading?"

"Reports, mission briefings, and personnel dossiers," Palmer said. "Boring stuff like that."

Ethan nodded, giving Palmer a light squeeze. "I love you."

"I love you too," Palmer smiled. "Not too much longer. We reach Requiem in two days."

Ethan nodded. "I have mixed feelings about that."

"So do I," Palmer nodded. "But I'm sure it'll go better this time. After all, it's a research mission."

"With a job description that includes the words, fuck with Jul 'Mdama's forces," Ethan said.

"It does not!" Palmer said.

"Look it up," Ethan smirked just as Maria added it to the copy on Palmer's data pad.

Palmer flipped to the description and scanned over it before rolling her eyes. "Very nice. Fortunately I know that if it had actually been in it before just now, I'd have lost my job by now. And then you'd need a new supervisor."

"Solid pass," Ethan said. "You're the best handler I've ever had."

Palmer rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to justify that with a response." She set the data pad aside and sighed, settling back against him again. "I'm thinking Rio. Or Hawaii. Or Fuji."

Ethan chuckled. "I was thinking somewhere a little less populated. I know a place. Maria noticed it on our way back a few times ago."

Palmer smiled. "Alright."

Ethan scooted down, lying on his side, holding Palmer against him and sighing. Palmer rested a hand on his arms and sighed.

"You know I can't sleep here," Palmer said.

"Hostage," Ethan said, pulling her tighter against himself. "Legal immunity."

Palmer shook her head and smiled, settling in, deciding not to argue. A few minutes later, both had drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Focus Majestic!" Ethan called over the gunfire. "You're letting them get too close!"

"We've got this!" DeMarco shouted back. "We can do this Majestic! Give them hell!"

Majestic rallied, forcing the line where most of the virtual Covenant were killed back. Then, they were all tagged by a group of Jackal snipers that popped up on the far end. Maria ended the simulation, and Ethan walked over, kneeling beside DeMarco.

"What'd I do wrong?" DeMarco asked.

"Nothing," Ethan said. "You couldn't have known about the snipers. That's where luck comes in, because their target and accuracy are randomized. It was just bad luck that you were all hit. You did well."

He stood, walking back out of the way of the training as Majestic was standing, nodding to Maria. "And begin."

Majestic spun, but saw nothing. Ethan smirked. Cloaked Elites. Got them every time. Except, it didn't. Thorne spotted one and began to spray it, killing it after a moment and Hoya sprayed in a semicircle, hitting five more, which they all targeted instantly, destroying them all. After that, they were much more careful and successfully finished the training event fairly close to Crimson's own time. However, in the process, Madsen went down. The next simulation was against Hunters. Again they failed.

"You all _will_ be able to pass these three simulations, at the very least, before we reached Requiem," Ethan said. "And you will not stop running these drills until you either can no longer raise your rifles, or until you can successfully pass all three consecutively without losing anyone."

Majestic all stood and prepared to go again.

* * *

Ethan nodded approvingly as Thorne slid under a Hunter, standing and turning, driving the barrel of his assault rifle into the Hunter's back under the armor and began to spray, dropping into a crouch and angling the rifle upward. After a moment, the Hunter was destroyed and the simulation ended. They'd done it. And with about twelve hours to spare before they reached Requiem.

"Well done Majestic," Ethan said. "You may just survive Requiem after all. Okay. Go put your armor and weapons away and rest. Be in the Armor Bay in exactly eleven hours."

Majestic all saluted and left. Ethan turned to Crimson.

"Spartans, I have bad news for all of you," Ethan said, all of them remaining stoic but watching him intently. "You may actually have some competition this time around. Even worse, DeMarco turned out to be a halfway decent leader after all. As such, I expect you all to show Majestic exactly why Crimson is the top Spartan Team on Infinity, even if I can't join you for some reason."

"Yes sir!" Crimson saluted.

"Oh, and one more thing," Ethan said. "Stop fucking saluting me! You _know_ how much I hate it when you do that."

"Yes sir," Jason smirked. "That's why we do it."

Ethan chuckled, shaking his head. "Get out of here. I've got a date with Sarah."

"Ooo, how romantic," Amelia grinned. "Chow hall food."

Ethan laughed. "Tell me about it."

They all left, heading to the Armor Bay before Ethan left to meet up with Palmer.

* * *

Ethan inhaled slowly, smiling as Palmer's shampoo greeted him, along with a slight hint of her body's natural scent, arousal and sweat mixed together. As weird as it sounded, he loved the way she smelled. The smell was strong, but intoxicating. Her sweat smelled slightly musky, but her arousal smelled sweet. Almost comically so. When he was able to smell both, it reminded him of smelling wild flowers. Which, in turn, reminded him of their vacation at the cabin.

He smiled, tucking his face a little further into her hair and Palmer smiled, cuddling into him tighter. His smile widened. He loved this side of her. The side that didn't care what the rules said and was more than happy to just stay in bed with him all day, even though they were breaking the rule of no being alone together in the room, no sex on the ship, no relationships between commander and subordinate. There were probably a few more, but those were the ones that would get her stripped of all rank, billet, and probably thrown in the brig, if the commanding officer wasn't Lasky. And if Ethan didn't have legal immunity, which in this case extended to Palmer.

"We should probably get up," Ethan said, the fingers of his left hand trailing lightly up and down her spin, feeling her shiver slightly at the sensation.

"Probably," Palmer agreed, not moving a muscle.

Ethan smiled, kissing the top of her head and setting his head back down. However, after a few more minutes, he finally sighed, sitting up and bringing her with him. Palmer groaned, then sighed heavily.

"Fine," Palmer sighed. "Let's go do our jobs."

Ethan smiled, kissing her for several seconds before she pulled away and stood before they could decide they had other things they'd rather do. Both got dressed and headed to the Armor Bay, finding Crimson and Majestic already present and in the process of getting dressed. Crimson wolf-whistled the moment they walked in and Ethan rolled his eyes.

"Keep it up Crimson," Ethan smirked. "Don't forget who's in charge of your training."

Crimson all grinned. "Aye Sir!"

Ethan shook his head. "Smartasses."

Once they'd all gotten their armor, they all headed to the armory, then to the vehicle bay, Palmer heading up to the observation platform.

"Ladies...and other Spartans, listen up," Palmer began, Ethan rolling his eyes. "Your new work place is a planet first discovered by humanity six months ago called Requiem. Some of the old hands know what you're in for. The rest of you...you're due an education. The eggheads upstairs want to set up a research station, but before they can do that we have to end off some Covenant Squatters. The Covies...they believe this is the home of one of their gods. The way I see it, if those freaks wanna meet God, it's our duty to help them along."

At that exact moment, the ship lurched violently, an alert blaring instantly and Maria reporting the ship had just struck a Covenant super-carrier and destroyed it, suffering no hull damage, and minimal damage to the ship's shielding. Everyone sprinted for their Pelicans and Ethan stopped on the ramp of Crimson's, looking up at Palmer and blowing her a kiss, Palmer rolling her eyes before Ethan pulled his helmet on and took his seat beside Jason.

"You sure you don't wanna stay and enjoy the benefits of an empty ship?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, we wouldn't blame you if you did," Amelia said.

"Nonsense," Ethan smiled. "We all know you lot are helpless without me."

"We'll see," Erin laughed. "Dropping in five."

"I hate doing ODST inserts," Frank said just as the Pelican took off, shuddering and shaking as it sped toward the planet, Covenant ships moving to fight them, only for other Pelicans, of the hundred the Infinity was launching, or the Infinity itself to blast them.

"Just be glad you're not in a drop pod," Ethan snorted. "No shielding, no guns, no armor plating, and no steering controls."

"And no way in hell my ass will ever be in one," Frank said. "I'll Master Chief my way to the ground and rely on armor lockup before I drop in a pod."

"Careful what you wish for, Frank," Jason laughed. "It can always get worse."

"Landing in twenty!" the pilot reported.

"Show time Crimson," Ethan said. "Let's remind the covenant why it lost to a bunch of hairless apes, shall we?"

"Speak for yourself!" Amelia snorted. "I'm definitely an angel."

"I was thinking more Neanderthal, but we can make believe," Ethan teased.

"Hey!" Amelia laughed. "I'm telling the Commander!"

Ethan laughed as well as the Pelican shuddered slightly as it neared the ground, the back opening, allowing them to all offload into a desert. As they did, Spartan Miller, Palmer's intel assistant, letting Crimson know that he'd be their handler for the mission. As soon as they were all off, the pelican took off again and Ethan grinned at a pair of Warthogs sitting beside them. He climbed into the driver's seat of one and Jason got on the gun while Amelia too the other Warthog's wheel and Erin took her gun. Frank turned, heading for a cliff off to the right side where he'd be able to snipe from.

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	15. Chapter 15

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

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Running Missions

Ethan smirked as he watched his team work. The mission was nearly over. They'd destroyed the four power cores they'd been assigned, and now they were just finishing up the Covenant. Jason fired another volley of rockets from their warthog's rocket turret, Ethan grinning as explosions went off in a line through a group of grunts, slaughtering them. A moment later, Amelia jumped off of a low cliff off to the side in her and Erin's warthog, crushing an Elite under it before Erin's machine gun turret roared to life, mowing down several Grunts and an Elite. A Jackal stepped out to snipe at Ethan and Jason, only for Frank to put a shot through the Jackal's head. Finally, the last of the Covenant forces were dead.

"All contacts down, Commander," Ethan reported.

"Already?" Palmer asked. "Everyone else is still hip-deep in bad guys. Not bad for a days work, Crimson. Miller, bring 'em home."

"Already on it, Commander," Miller said.

A Pelican flew down from above, hovering in front of them all and allowing them all to climb in. Then, it started back up toward the ship.

"So, what are you and the Commander going to do for the rest of the day?" Amelia asked.

Ethan snorted. "What makes you think we're done? We've got time to run another mission."

Everyone groaned dramatically.

"Cheer up," Ethan grinned. "That just means we get to blow up more covenant."

"Well, I suppose there is that for a bright side," Erin said. "Can I have a railgun?"

"We'll see," Ethan smirked.

They rode the rest of the way in silence, and as soon as they were back, as Ethan had guessed, they were immediately called to the COC so that Sarah could give them a new mission. This time, they were investigating a Forerunner facility the Covenant had taken up residence in. They flew down in a Pelican, keeping it high enough to not be targeted and jumping down onto the facility itself using jump packs. As they dropped, all five opened fire, slaughtering the Covenant around their landing area. They landed in cover and Ethan glanced around at the others before nodding. They all stepped out, quickly killing the Grunts and Jackals that were closing in on them, Ethan spraying the one Elite with them and killing it. Then, Frank set up with a bulletproof glass wall for cover and began to target the sniper Jackals in the distance, covering the others' advance. Several Grunts moved to try and stop them, as did several Elites, but they all died in a hail of Hardlight Bullets. After a few minutes, they reached a massive barrier wall and Ethan branched off, following Maria's directions, taking a ramp up to a small raised area to their right. He grinned as he walked over to the controls for the shield.

"I think the controls for the shield are-" Miller began.

"Already there," Ethan said, deactivating it. "Don't forget I've got Maria analyzing everything and passing me instructions when I need it."

"Right," Miller said. "Why am I here?"

"Because the Commander said to," Ethan said.

As the shield faded, four Jackal snipers opened fire at Ethan, only for Ethan, Frank, Jason, and Amelia to all drop one of them, the three who weren't the team snipers using their DMRs. Ethan jumped off the catwalk, landing behind Jason and Erin, both of whom continued at a crouch so that Ethan and Amelia could shoot over them. Grunts and Shield Jackals all turned to engage them, but they dropped them quickly. The Jackals' shields were able to withstand their Hardlight bullets for two DMR shots before overloading, or four Assault Rifle shots, which meant that they were next to useless against them. Within a minute, the four of them had killed most of them and the front two stood, all of them breaking into a quick combat glide just below a run. As they did, Maria highlighted the remaining enemies for them all with a small red arrow hovering over their heads.

"Miller, highlight the controls with a blue indicator," Ethan said.

"On it," Miller said, two blue diamonds appearing in their sights on two separate control panels.

"Jason, Amelia, get the one on the right," Ethan said. "Erin, you're with me."

Jason and Amelia split off instantly, the four of them heading for their controls. Jason and Amelia's was on ground level, but Ethan's was on a raised platform over them. As he and Erin started up the ramp, Frank's sniper rifle went off four times, and when they got to the top they found two dead Elites and a pair of Grunts. Ethan smirked and headed to the controls, pressing the button on the holoscreen to deactivate the shield at the same time as Jason hit his. As the shield faded, a Phantom flew down, dropping a pair of Elites and a pair of Shield Jackals to reinforce the two Jackals already there, only for Erin to fire a single DMR shot into the front left stabilizer. A moment later, Frank put four rounds into it and it exploded, that corner of the Phantom dropping and flipping it over before it plummeted to the ground and exploded, killing all of the Covenant troops it had just dropped off. One of the Shield Jackals had managed to escape the blast by pure luck, but Amelia killed it a moment later with her DMR.

"I'm going to move up to the bend," Frank reported, meaning the corner the other four were already headed for.

"Understood," Ethan said.

They headed to the corner and Ethan led them around it, using his Assault Rifle to kill a pair of Elites. As they continued, they passed several of the large purple pods the Covenant used, only for an Elite to step around one with an Energy Sword. However, Ethan deflected it with the wrist-mounted Energy Dagger he'd stolen so long ago before their first trip to Reach, then drove the blade up into the Elite's head. A pair of Grunts ran around another pod further up with armed plasma grenades in their hands and Jason dropped them both, all four waiting for the explosion to go off before continuing.

As they did, Frank set up beside them with a stationary shield beside him for cover, beginning to snipe into the canyon before them already. They continued quickly, looping down around a rock and killed a group of grunts. As soon as they had, Frank moved up again, setting up on top of the rock above them. Then, they continued again. They worked their way along the winding trail quickly, killing anything they met that hadn't been shot by Frank yet. After a few curves, Frank moved up to a rock beside them again, and they continued. Finally, they stopped as they reached the opening to the main valley they were working their way toward. It was where the Covenant's generator for their defenses there was located, so it was where they needed to get.

"Frank, see the rocks to your left?" Maria asked.

"I see them," Frank said, already moving. Once he was there, he knelt, sighting in. "Clear view. I've got you covered."

"Copy," Ethan said. "We're moving."

The four of them headed into the valley as Frank opened fire. Covenant forces flooded toward them, but between the four of them, they made very short work of them. Two Elites tried to reach them with swords, but Frank was at a perfect angle and shot through one into a plasma grenade on the ground beside it, priming it and flinging it into the other Elite's side, the explosion killing it a moment later. Then, a few Grunts and a Jackal later, they were finished.

"Valley's clear," Ethan reported.

"Good work, Crimson," Sarah said. "Set a target designator on the generator and I'll have Dalton send an airstrike. I figure you'll appreciate some fireworks to celebrate a job well done."

"Oh, we do!" Erin grinned as Maria marked the generator for them and they all settled in to watch.

A moment later, the Pelican arrived, blasting the Generator, which erupted into a massive, blue fireball, and they all cheered. Frank broke down and used his jump pack to get down from the rocks he was on quickly, meeting them at the LZ just as the Pelican landed. A few minutes later, they were standing in the COC, Ethan finishing debriefing Sarah while Fireteam Majestic stared at them in shock upon hearing they had completed two mission in the same amount of time it took Majestic to do one.

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	16. Chapter 16

I do not own Halo or any of the characters.

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Competitive

"Spartans, you're being deployed to a pair of identical structures located north of Primary Operations," Palmer informed Crimson and Majestic. "Here's a challenge for you. Who can clear their base of Prometheans first?"

"Yeah?" DeMarco asked. "And what do we get if we beat Crimson, Commander?"

"The respect of your peers, DeMarco," Palmer said. "That should be an exciting new experience for you."

Crimson laughed as the Pelican opened and they all dropped out.

"DeMarco to Commander Palmer, hello?" DeMarco called. "Crimson, are you there?"

"What's wrong, DeMarco?" Ethan asked. "You sound worried. Not used to working without overhead?"

"Funny," DeMarco growled.

"And here I thought they were just ignoring you, DeMarco," Thorne said.

"Shut it, Thorne!" DeMarco snapped. "Get on point and take down that comm jammer!"

Ethan smirked. "Let the games begin. Come on Crimson."

Crimson all cheered, drawing DMRs as Frank ran to set up. They all turned and jumped off of a cliff, landing behind a group of Crawlers, and when the Crawlers spun, they blasted them all, killing all of them in seconds.

"Maria, highlight the Jammers," Ethan said.

"There's two of the," Maria said. "Marking them."

A large metal thing with a glowing yellow, Hardlight control panel at the base of it was suddenly marked with a blue waypoint. Ethan turned to it instantly, grinning at their luck.

"Just touch the big circle in the middle," Maria told them all.

Ethan placed his hand on the circle and two small circles on the sides swung up and merged before the panel disappeared and the tower collapsed to about waist-high.

"Crimson, do you read?" Miller asked.

"Welcome back, Miller," Ethan said. "We missed you."

"Sure you did," Miller said sarcastically. "Marking your first targets now. We need you to shut these down."

"Can do," Ethan said as a pair of orange markers appeared.

Amelia and Erin branched off instantly, Erin switching her DMR for her Assault Rifle as they headed for the second marker. Jason and Ethan made a beeline for the first, blasting any Crawlers that came into view ahead of them as Frank took out all of the Watchers flying overhead and also any Crawlers that circled around behind the rest of Crimson. Within minutes, Ethan and Jason had reached their control panel and Ethan deactivated it the same way he had the first.

"Crimson has deactivated their first...make that both panels," Miller said. "Man, you guys are good!"

"What!?" DeMarco asked. "There's no way!"

"You should see them work," Maria said. "Then you'd understand."

"How's it going on your end, DeMarco?" Palmer asked.

"Just having a discussion with the locals, Commander," DeMarco said.

"Painting your third target, Crimson," Miller said, just as a dozen portals opened, each spitting out five Watchers.

"You're going to have to give us a minute!" Ethan said, he and the rest of Crimson all opening fire as the two pairs sprinted to regroup. The Watchers split between opening fire or shining a blue beam of light in seemingly random spots. However, at each spot they shone the light for ten seconds, a group of Crawlers suddenly appeared. Ethan swore as his shields were blasted and he dove for cover, Jason joining him a moment later with one shoulder of his armor grazed.

"That went down hill real fast," Jason said.

"Yup," Ethan said, hurling a grenade out of cover blindly as his shields recharged. "Three...two...one...go!"

Ethan shouted the command just as the grenade exploded, blasting half a dozen Crawlers. The two of them spun out of cover and began to fire rapidly, every shot or two destroying a Crawler as they quickly combat glided toward Amelia and Erin, who were pinned down by nearly fifty Crawlers, struggling to keep them from flanking using their guns and grenades, though Erin's stock of twelve only lasted a couple of seconds and did very little.

"How're you holding up, Frank?" Ethan asked as he switched to his Assault Rifle, beginning to rapidly thin the crowd for Amelia and Erin, drawing the Crawlers' attention and allowing the girls to also open fire.

"The Watchers are having a grand time shooting at me!" Frank said. "Otherwise I'm fine."

"Jason, find some cover and lend Frank a hand," Ethan said.

Jason split off, kneeling behind a low wall off to the side and lifting his DMR, beginning to fire up at the Watchers pinning Frank down. As he did, Amelia Erin moved to protect him and Amelia and Ethan continued to work their way through the Crawlers quickly. Finally, they had destroyed all of the Watchers and enough Crawlers to get back on task. They headed for the massive structure in the center as they mopped up the last of the Crawlers, with Frank's help, and took a ramp up through the middle to a walkway around the outside, then looped around and took another walkway up to the top, where Amelia jogged on ahead and shut down the last panel. As she did, a portal opened above her, only for the others to all slaughter the Watchers as they exited it.

"Crimson's got their last console shut down, Commander," Miller reported.

"Excellent work, Crimson," Palmer said. "Send 'em a ride out of there, Miller."

"On it, Commander," Miller said.

"Oh, _come on_!" DeMarco complained. "Crimson's base can't have had the defenses ours did!"

"You know what, you're right, DeMarco," Palmer said. "Crimson actually had _more_ to deal with."

"We're at the LZ," Ethan said.

"Heads up!" Maria said. "Multiple contacts teleporting in! Grab some cover!"

Crimson all scrambled to duck behind the boulders around them as Crawlers began to appear all over the facility, swarming toward them.

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Crawlers?" Ethan asked.

"A few times," Amelia said, leaning out and firing her DMR several times before ducking back into cover as several shots slammed into the rock. "Maria, any chance you can highlight them all for us?"

"Of course I can," Maria said, giving all of the Crawlers a red outline.

"Thanks beautiful!" Erin said, stepping out and blasting three, then another just as it rounded the corner of the nearest structure.

"Erin, no flirting with Maria during combat," Ethan said, hurling his last grenade over a structure and into a group, blasting them all. Several Watchers appeared from a portal, but Frank shot them all in seconds. After another couple of minutes, the last of the Crawlers exploded and Crimson all sighed.

"Daulton, the LZ is secure," Miller said.

"Affirmative," Daulton said. "Pelican inbound."

"Nice work down there Crimson," Palmer said. "Maybe next time, eh, Majestic?"

"You know we will, Commander," DeMarco said, gunfire echoing from his side. "Our third console is down."

"About time," Palmer said. "Now you just need to clear your LZ and you can come home."

Ethan smiled as he and Crimson climbed onto the Pelican and it took off back to the Infinity. Once they were there, Ethan headed to his room with the three Hardlight weapon power supplies he'd collected on the mission. He'd needed them to make Thorne the Hardlight Assault Rifle he'd promised him, and now that he had them, it would only take a few minutes. He grabbed the assault rifle he was going to upgrade and headed to the COC to get his next mission, breaking it down on the way and sticking the parts to his armor's various magnets before beginning the upgrades.

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